DNA fingerprinting of pathogenic bacteria by fluorophore-enhanced repetitive sequence-based polymerase chain reaction

Fluorophore-labeled oligonucleotide primers complementary to defined interspersed repetitive sequences conserved in diverse bacteria were used in the polymerase chain reaction to generate DNA fingerprint patterns from selected pathogenic bacteria. Fluorophore-enhanced, repetitive sequence- based polymerase chain reaction allowed discrimination between unrelated isolates of penicillin-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae recovered from pediatric patients and Mycobacterium avium cultured from patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Combinations of oligonucleotide primers labeled with distinct fluorescent dyes enabled simultaneous DNA fin- gerprinting and Shiga-like toxin gene detection in enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli isolates. Fluorophore-enhanced, repetitive sequence-based polymerase chain reaction was performed with either purified DNA or intact cells that were lysed during the polymerase chain reaction. Fluorophore- enhanced, repetitive sequence-based polymerase chain reaction successfully combines polymerase chain reaction amplification and fluorescent label detection for DNA fingerprinting of cultured bacterial pathogens.