Affiliation:
1. Department of Medical Laboratory Science and Biotechnology, School of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan
2. School of Medical Technology, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Viridans streptococci (VS) are common etiologic agents of subacute infective endocarditis and are capable of causing a variety of pyogenic infections. Many species of VS are difficult to differentiate by phenotypic traits. An oligonucleotide array based on 16S-23S rRNA gene intergenic spacer (ITS) sequences was developed to identify 11 clinically relevant VS. These 11 species were
Streptococcus anginosus
,
S. constellatus
,
S. gordonii
,
S. intermedius
,
S. mitis
,
S. mutans
,
S. oralis
,
S. parasanguinis
,
S. salivarius
,
S. sanguinis
, and
S. uberis
. The method consisted of PCR amplification of the ITS regions by using a pair of universal primers, followed by hybridization of the digoxigenin-labeled PCR products to a panel of species-specific oligonucleotides immobilized on a nylon membrane. After 120 strains of the 11 species of VG and 91 strains of other bacteria were tested, the sensitivity and specificity of the oligonucleotide array were found to be 100% (120 of 120 strains) and 95.6% (87 of 91 strains), respectively.
S. pneumoniae
cross-hybridized to the probes used for the identification of
S. mitis
, and simple biochemical tests such as optochin susceptibility or bile solubility should be used to differentiate
S. pneumoniae
from
S. mitis
. In conclusion, identification of species of VS by use of the present oligonucleotide array is accurate and could be used as an alternative reliable method for species identification of strains of VS.
Publisher
American Society for Microbiology
Cited by
29 articles.
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