COMPARATIVE RFLP-ITS ANALYSIS BETWEEN ENTEROBACTER CLOACAE STRAINS ISOLATED FROM PLANTS AND CLINICAL ORIGIN

Abstract

ABSTRACT Nineteen strains of Enterobacter cloacae including ten isolates from vegetables and eight from clinical origin and one from spring water were analysed by 16S-23S intergenic transcribed spacer (ITS) primers. Type strains of E. cloacae (ATCC 13047), E. dissolvens (ICMP 1570), and E. nimipressuralis (ICMP 1577) were included for comparative purposes. Also, the strains were tested for pathogenicity on onion bulbs. PCR-RFLP results showed that E. cloacae strains isolated from plants were homogeneous presenting close similarity among them, whereas the strains from clinical samples were heterogeneous. Pathogenicity tests revealed that the group comprising bacteria from clinical origin also showed capability of were able to induce a collapse of the inner scales of onion bulbs.