Fingerprinting of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus by arbitrarily primed polymerase chain reaction.

Abstract

Arbitrarily primed polymerase chain reaction (AP-PCR) was applied to genome DNA fingerprinting of twenty clinical isolates of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and this method was evaluated in comparison with phenotypes, such as coagulase typing and minimum inhibitory concentration of four β-lactam antimicrobial agents. Genomic DNA, obtained by mild cell lysis and treated with phenol / chloroform, was suitable for AP-PCR, and the addition of 3mM MgCl₂ and using PI primer (5’-TCTGTCTTGAAAAACTGATGCCTG-3’) provided four different patterns of DNA fingerprinting. Althought a strong correlation between the phenotypes and DNA fingerprinting patterns was not observed in 20 isolates investigated, AP-PCR can be applicable for genotyping as a time-saving method.