title: Identification of Staphylococcus spp. using (GTG)₅-PCR fingerprinting.
abstract: A group of 212 type and reference strains deposited in the Czech Collection of Microorganisms (Brno, Czech Republic) and covering 41 Staphylococcus species comprising 21 subspecies was characterised using rep-PCR fingerprinting with the (GTG)₅ primer in order to evaluate this method for identification of staphylococci. All strains were typeable using the (GTG)₅ primer and generated PCR products ranging from 200 to 4500 bp. Numerical analysis of the obtained fingerprints revealed (sub)species-specific clustering corresponding with the taxonomic position of analysed strains. Taxonomic position of selected strains representing the (sub)species that were distributed over multiple rep-PCR clusters was verified and confirmed by the partial rpoB gene sequencing. Staphylococcus caprae, Staphylococcus equorum, Staphylococcus sciuri, Staphylococcus piscifermentans, Staphylococcus xylosus, and Staphylococcus saprophyticus revealed heterogeneous fingerprints and each (sub)species was distributed over several clusters. However, representatives of the remaining Staphylococcus spp. were clearly separated in single (sub)species-specific clusters. These results showed rep-PCR with the (GTG)₅ primer as a fast and reliable method applicable for differentiation and straightforward identification of majority of Staphylococcus spp.
authors.affiliation: Czech Collection of Microorganisms, Department of Experimental Biology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Tvrdého 14, 602 00, Brno, Czech Republic. mpavel@sci.muni.cz
authors.forename: Pavel
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Svec
authors.forename: Roman
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pantůček
authors.forename: Petr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Petráš
authors.forename: Ivo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sedláček
authors.forename: Dana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nováková
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting / Q000379:methods*; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000235:genetics; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D021122:Protein Subunits / Q000235:genetics; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000382:microbiology; D013210:Staphylococcus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D021122:Protein Subunits; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases