Usefulness of rpoB gene sequencing for identification of Afipia and Bosea species, including a strategy for choosing discriminative partial sequences.

ABSTRACT: Bacteria belonging to the genera Afipia and Bosea are amoeba-resisting bacteria that have been recently reported to colonize hospital water supplies and are suspected of being responsible for intensive care unit-acquired pneumonia. Identification of these bacteria is now based on determination of the 16S ribosomal DNA sequence. However, the 16S rRNA gene is not polymorphic enough to ensure discrimination of species defined by DNA-DNA relatedness. The complete rpoB sequences of 20 strains were first determined by both PCR and genome walking methods. The percentage of homology between different species ranged from 83 to 97% and was in all cases lower than that observed with the 16S rRNA gene; this was true even for species that differed in only one position. The taxonomy of Bosea and Afipia

SUBMITTER: Khamis A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC262318 | biostudies-literature | 2003 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature