Evaluation of PCR-based methods for discrimination of Francisella species and subspecies and development of a specific PCR that distinguishes the two major subspecies of Francisella tularensis.

ABSTRACT: Previous studies have demonstrated that the four subspecies of the human pathogen Francisella tularensis, despite showing marked variations in their virulence for mammals and originating from different regions in the Northern Hemisphere, display a very close phylogenetic relationship. This property has hampered the development of generally applicable typing methods. To overcome this problem, we evaluated the use of PCR for discrimination of the subspecies using various forms of long arbitrary primers or primers specific for repetitive extragenic palindromic sequences (REP) or enterobacterial repetitive intragenic consensus (ERIC) sequences. Patterns generated by use of REP, ERIC, or long arbitrary primers allowed differentiation at the species level and of the four subspecies of F. tularen

SUBMITTER: Johansson A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC87560 | biostudies-literature | 2000 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature