title: The utility of the PCR melting profile technique for typing Corynebacterium diphtheriae isolates.
abstract: Selection of appropriate typing method depends on a number of factors, including the scale of the investigation, the rapidity required of the results and the financial and technical resources available. Several typing methods have been applied to Corynebacterium diphtheriae genotyping, but most are laborious and time-consuming or require expensive equipment. We report an evaluation of the utility of the PCR melting profile technique for simple and easy-to-perform genotyping of C. diphtheriae. We compared the method with ribotyping-the 'gold standard' for C. diphtheriae typing-and PFGE, MLST, AFLP, RAPD and spoligotyping.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Occurrence of Corynebacterium diphtheriae infections-in the form of diphtheria in endemic countries and in the form of invasive infections in countries with high antidiphtheria vaccination coverage-indicates the need for maintenance of ability to genotype this pathogen by laboratories. Application of an appropriate typing method is essential not only in outbreak investigations for understanding and predicting epidemics but also in monitoring of the evolution and spread of epidemic clones of C. diphtheriae. The PCR melting profile method presented in the study is a good alternative for C. diphtheriae typing.
authors.affiliation: Department of Bacteriology, National Institute of Public Health - National Institute of Hygiene, Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Zasada
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Formińska
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wołkowicz
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Badell
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Guiso
mesh_terms: D001482:Base Composition; D003353:Corynebacterium diphtheriae / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D005838:Genotype; D058885:Multilocus Sequence Typing; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D044366:Transition Temperature
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial
keywords: diseases; genotyping; molecular genetic; polymerase chain reaction