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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, Mar 1995, 528-534, Vol 33, No. 3
H Grundmann, C Schneider, D Hartung, FD Daschner and TL Pitt
We assessed the capacity of three DNA typing techniques to discriminate
between 81 geographically, temporally, and epidemiologically unrelated
strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The methods, representing powerful tools
for hospital molecular epidemiology, included hybridization of restricted
chromosomal DNA with toxA and genes coding for rRNA (rDNA) used as probes
and macrorestriction analysis of SpeI-digested DNA by pulsed-field gel
electrophoresis. The probe typing techniques were able to classify all
strains into a limited number of types, and the discriminatory powers were
97.7 and 95.6% for toxA and rDNA typing, respectively. Strains that were
indistinguishable on the basis of both toxA and rDNA types defined 12 probe
type homology groups. Of these, one contained five strains, three contained
three strains each, and eight groups were represented by two strains each.
Strains in 10 of the homology groups had the same O serotype. SpeI
macrorestriction patterns discriminated between all strains with at least
four band differences, which corresponded to a similarity level of 85%.
Fifteen pairs of strains were similar at a level of > 75% and differed
by only four to seven bands. Of these pairs, 11 belonged to the same probe
type homology group, indicating their clonal relatedness. We conclude that
macrorestriction analysis of P. aeruginosa with SpeI provides the best
means of discrimination between epidemiologically unrelated strains.
However, DNA probe typing with either toxA or rDNA reveals information on
the strain population structure and evolutionary relationships.
Copyright © 1995 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Discriminatory power of three DNA-based typing techniques for Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Institute for Environmental Medicine and Hospital Epidemiology, University Hospital Freiburg, Germany.
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