Typing of Listeria monocytogenes strains by repetitive element sequence-based PCR.
Listeria monocytogenes strains possess short repetitive extragenic palindromic (REP) elements and enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus (ERIC) sequences. We used repetitive element sequence-based PCR (rep-PCR) to evaluate the potential of REP and ERIC elements for typing L. monocytogenes strains isolated from humans, animals, and foods. On the basis of rep-PCR fingerprints, L. monocytogenes strains were divided into four major clusters matching origin of isolation. rep-PCR fingerprints of human and animal isolates were different from those of food isolates. Computer evaluation of rep-PCR fingerprints allowed discrimination among the tested serotypes 1/2a, 1/2b, 1/2c, 3b, and 4b within each major cluster. The index of discrimination calculated for 52 epidemiologically unrelated isolates of L. monocytogenes was 0.98 for REP- and ERIC-PCR. Our results suggest that rep-PCR can provide an alternative method for L. monocytogenes typing.
Jersek
B
B
Centre of Agricultural Research, Department of Animal Product Quality (DVK), B-9090 Melle, Belgium. Barbara.Jersek@BF.UNI-LJ.SI
Gilot
P
P
Gubina
M
M
Klun
N
N
Mehle
J
J
Tcherneva
E
E
Rijpens
N
N
Herman
L
L
D000818:Animals; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005516:Food Microbiology; D006801:Humans; D008089:Listeria monocytogenes / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid / Q000235:genetics*
D004269:DNA, Bacterial