title: Comparative study of three different DNA fingerprint techniques for molecular typing of Shigella flexneri strains isolated in Romania.
abstract: In this study, 97 epidemiologically unrelated Shigella flexneri strains isolated during 1994 (69 isolates) and 1997 (28 isolates) were characterised by ribotyping, enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus sequence-based PCR typing, and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. Number of strains belonging to each of the six serotypes is selected equal to their distribution in Romania. The isolates comprise 24 ribotypes based on combination of two restriction patterns obtained with HindlII and PstI, respectively, 7 enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus (ERIC)-PCR types, and 92 XbaI pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) patterns grouped in 31 pulsotypes at Dice coefficients of 85% similarity. We find no significant difference in the distribution of isolates collected during the two periods. Macrorestriction analysis by PFGE offers maximal discrimination. There seems to be little genetic variability among circulating S. flexneri strains of serotype 2a, suggesting that even a combination of several molecular techniques, including PFGE, could not easily differentiate an outbreak strain from temporally associated independent isolates.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Epidemiology Laboratory, Cantacuzino Institute, Bucharest, Romania.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Surdeanu
authors.forename: Lucia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ciudin
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pencu
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Straut
mesh_terms: D016172:DNA Fingerprinting / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics*; D015252:Deoxyribonucleases, Type II Site-Specific; D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004405:Dysentery, Bacillary / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D014644:Genetic Variation / Q000235:genetics; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D021521:Ribotyping / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D012383:Romania / Q000453:epidemiology; D012703:Serotyping / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D012763:Shigella flexneri / Q000235:genetics*; D015265:Site-Specific DNA-Methyltransferase (Adenine-Specific)
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; C090528:DNA modification methylase HindIII; D015265:Site-Specific DNA-Methyltransferase (Adenine-Specific); C025580:endodeoxyribonuclease XBAI; C024388:CTGCAG-specific type II deoxyribonucleases; D015252:Deoxyribonucleases, Type II Site-Specific