Comparison of arbitrarily primed-polymerase chain reaction and pulse-field gel electrophoresis for characterizing methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to analyse genotypes for clinical isolates of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), including hetero-vancomycin-resistant Staph. aureus (VRSA), at a Japanese university hospital.


RESULTS
Seventy-eight clinical isolates of MRSA were analysed by arbitrarily primed-polymerase chain reaction (AP-PCR) using ERIC2 primer and by pulse-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) following SmaI digestion. Analyses of the nine genotypes and 28 subtypes defined by PFGE, and of the three genotypes and 22 subtypes defined by AP-PCR, both facilitated epidemiological tracing. Used in combination, AP-PCR and PFGE provided more precise classification than the use of a single genotyping method. The six hetero-VRSA isolates were classified into four genotypes defined by the combination of both methods, but these genotypes contained non-VRSA isolates.


CONCLUSIONS
The results suggest that both PFGE and AP-PCR are useful in discriminating MRSA, but not hetero-VRSA, isolates for epidemiological analysis.


CONCLUSIONS
Combining the results of PFGE with the results of AP-PCR can provide more detail differentiation of MRSA and hetero-MRSA isolates than either method alone.
Kondoh
K
K
Division of Laboratory Diagnosis, Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine, Chuo-Ku, Japan.
Furuya
D
D
Yagihashi
A
A
Uehara
N
N
Nakamura
M
M
Kobayashi
D
D
Tsuji
N
N
Watanabe
N
N
D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field / Q000379:methods*; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D016106:Methicillin Resistance; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000145:classification* / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D020713:Vancomycin Resistance
D004269:DNA, Bacterial