Jpn.J.Infect.Dis., 52, 38-41, 1999

Original Article

Molecular Typing of Vibrio vulnificus Isolated from Clinical Specimens by Pulsed-Field Gel Electrophoresis and Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Analysis

Dong Wook Ryang*, Suck Bong Koo, Myung Geun Shin¹, Jong Hee Shin and Soon Pal Suh

Department of Clinical Pathology, Chonnam University Medical School; The Institute of Medical Science, Chonnam University, 8 Hak-dong, Dong-ku, Kwangju 501-757, Korea and ¹Department of Clinical Pathology, College of Medicine, Seonam University, 120-1 Maleuk-dong, Seo-ku, Kwangju 502-157, Korea

(Received October 14, 1998. Accepted March 16, 1999)

SUMMARY: Primary V. vulnificus septicemia has been continuously reported in Korea. We analyzed the molecular diversity of V. vulnificus strains isolated from clinical specimens using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis. We analyzed a total of 23 V. vulnificus strains isolated from 22 patients between 1992 and 1997. RAPD analysis was performed using five random primers, and we obtained chromosomal DNA restriction patterns with NotI and SfiI by PFGE. Two isolates from one patient disclosed similarity value 1.0 by RAPD and had an indistinguishable pattern when analyzed with PFGE, which indicated that they were the same strains. The remaining 22 isolates from 22 patients could be separated into 5 different molecular types in RAPD analysis. The range of similarity values among the isolates was wide (0.29-0.81). Of 22 strains, four strains could not be typed in repeated trials by PFGE with NotI and SfiI. The PFGE patterns of 18 strains showed a remarkable polymorphism consisting 12-19 fragments (20-870 kb). These results show that V. vulnificus strains isolated from Korea are genetically diversified for the most part.

* Corresponding author : Tel: +82-62-220-5353, Fax: +82-62-224-2518

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