Enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus sequence-based PCR (ERIC-PCR); its ability to differentiate Streptococcus pyogenes strains and applicability to the study of outbreaks of streptococcal infection.
We evaluated the ability of enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus sequence-based PCR (ERIC-PCR) to differentiate 95 Streptococcus pyogenes strains with M or T serotypes isolated from sporadic streptococcal infections as compared with M or T serotypings and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). Although the ERIC-PCR had less discriminatory power, defined as the ability to divide the strains with the same serotypes into the different sub-types, than PFGE, it consistently classified the strains into 16 patterns with a high correlation with M or T serotyping. The PCR method further discriminated 4 M or T serotypes into sub-types. The application of ERIC-PCR to 5 outbreaks of streptococcal infection produced the results that agreed closely with those of T serotyping and PFGE. ERIC-PCR has sufficient discriminatory power and is a quick and relatively easy technique, making it useful for routine epidemiological investigations.
Matsumoto
M
M
Department of Microbiology, Aichi Prefectural Institute of Public Health, Nagoya, Japan. masakado_matsumoto@mail.pref.aichi.jp
Suzuki
Y
Y
Miyazaki
Y
Y
Tanaka
D
D
Yasuoka
T
T
Mashiko
K
K
Ishikita
R
R
Baba
J
J
D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D016384:Consensus Sequence; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D012703:Serotyping; D013290:Streptococcal Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D013297:Streptococcus pyogenes / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification
D004269:DNA, Bacterial