Comparison of serotype, biotype and bacteriocin type with rDNA RFLP patterns for the type identification ofSerratia marcescens

Abstract

SummaryVariations in rDNA gene loci in DNA digests of 209 clinical isolates ofSerratia marcescenswere determined with anEscherichia colirRNA probe. Forty-one restriction fragment length polymorphism patterns (ribotypes) were identified, based on the size of 4–14 (mean 7·5) hybridization bands. The patterns differed by more than a single band in 98% of pair-wise comparisons. On a subset of 76 isolates, ribotyping proved to be marginally more discriminating than biotyping (discrimination index 0·92v. 0·89) followed by serotyping (0·87) and bacteriocin typing (0·74). About one-third of isolates belonged to unique ribotypes and only two ribotypes exceeded 5% in frequency (23·0 and 6·4% respectively). A combination of serotype or biotype with ribotyping defined a similar number of strains, although none of the methods alone was sufficiently discriminatory to identify strains. We conclude that due to the accessibility of biotyping and the lack of commercially available antisera forS. marcescens, the biotype and ribotype together provide reliable markers of strain identity.