Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Journal of Clinical Microbiology logoLink to Journal of Clinical Microbiology
. 1995 May;33(5):1089–1093. doi: 10.1128/jcm.33.5.1089-1093.1995

Genomic fingerprinting of Bartonella species by repetitive element PCR for distinguishing species and isolates.

M C Rodriguez-Barradas 1, R J Hamill 1, E D Houston 1, P R Georghiou 1, J E Clarridge 1, R L Regnery 1, J E Koehler 1
PMCID: PMC228110  PMID: 7615711

Abstract

Repetitive-element PCR (rep-PCR) with primers based on repetitive extragenic palindromic (REP) and enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus (ERIC) repeated DNA sequences was used for genomic finger-printing of Bartonella species. This technique was applied by using either extracted genomic DNA or preparations of whole bacterial cells directly. PCR fingerprints with either the REP-based primers (REP-PCR) or primers based on the ERIC repeat (ERIC-PCR) revealed species-specific band patterns for the various Bartonella isolates. DNA fingerprints obtained from rep-PCR of extracted genomic DNA or from preparations of whole cells yielded comparable patterns. ERIC-PCR banding patterns were less complex than those obtained by REP-PCR but allowed better discrimination between strains within species. By combining results of REP-PCR and ERIC-PCR, five different fingerprint profiles were identified among 17 isolates of Bartonella henselae, but only one profile was identified among the five isolates of Bartonella quintana. Other Bartonella species yielded distinct rep-PCR fingerprints. rep-PCR is a useful technique for identification of Bartonella organisms to the species level and offers the advantage of ease of performance, with only small quantities of cells needed for the whole-cell procedure. This technique also appears to be useful for subtyping B. henselae isolates.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (230.4 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Beltran P., Musser J. M., Helmuth R., Farmer J. J., 3rd, Frerichs W. M., Wachsmuth I. K., Ferris K., McWhorter A. C., Wells J. G., Cravioto A. Toward a population genetic analysis of Salmonella: genetic diversity and relationships among strains of serotypes S. choleraesuis, S. derby, S. dublin, S. enteritidis, S. heidelberg, S. infantis, S. newport, and S. typhimurium. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1988 Oct;85(20):7753–7757. doi: 10.1073/pnas.85.20.7753. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Brenner D. J., O'Connor S. P., Winkler H. H., Steigerwalt A. G. Proposals to unify the genera Bartonella and Rochalimaea, with descriptions of Bartonella quintana comb. nov., Bartonella vinsonii comb. nov., Bartonella henselae comb. nov., and Bartonella elizabethae comb. nov., and to remove the family Bartonellaceae from the order Rickettsiales. Int J Syst Bacteriol. 1993 Oct;43(4):777–786. doi: 10.1099/00207713-43-4-777. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Daly J. S., Worthington M. G., Brenner D. J., Moss C. W., Hollis D. G., Weyant R. S., Steigerwalt A. G., Weaver R. E., Daneshvar M. I., O'Connor S. P. Rochalimaea elizabethae sp. nov. isolated from a patient with endocarditis. J Clin Microbiol. 1993 Apr;31(4):872–881. doi: 10.1128/jcm.31.4.872-881.1993. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Dolan M. J., Wong M. T., Regnery R. L., Jorgensen J. H., Garcia M., Peters J., Drehner D. Syndrome of Rochalimaea henselae adenitis suggesting cat scratch disease. Ann Intern Med. 1993 Mar 1;118(5):331–336. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-118-5-199303010-00002. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Georghiou P. R., Doggett A. M., Kielhofner M. A., Stout J. E., Watson D. A., Lupski J. R., Hamill R. J. Molecular fingerprinting of Legionella species by repetitive element PCR. J Clin Microbiol. 1994 Dec;32(12):2989–2994. doi: 10.1128/jcm.32.12.2989-2994.1994. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Georghiou P. R., Hamill R. J., Wright C. E., Versalovic J., Koeuth T., Watson D. A., Lupski J. R. Molecular epidemiology of infections due to Enterobacter aerogenes: identification of hospital outbreak-associated strains by molecular techniques. Clin Infect Dis. 1995 Jan;20(1):84–94. doi: 10.1093/clinids/20.1.84. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Koehler J. E., Glaser C. A., Tappero J. W. Rochalimaea henselae infection. A new zoonosis with the domestic cat as reservoir. JAMA. 1994 Feb 16;271(7):531–535. doi: 10.1001/jama.271.7.531. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Koehler J. E., Quinn F. D., Berger T. G., LeBoit P. E., Tappero J. W. Isolation of Rochalimaea species from cutaneous and osseous lesions of bacillary angiomatosis. N Engl J Med. 1992 Dec 3;327(23):1625–1631. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199212033272303. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Lucey D., Dolan M. J., Moss C. W., Garcia M., Hollis D. G., Wegner S., Morgan G., Almeida R., Leong D., Greisen K. S. Relapsing illness due to Rochalimaea henselae in immunocompetent hosts: implication for therapy and new epidemiological associations. Clin Infect Dis. 1992 Mar;14(3):683–688. doi: 10.1093/clinids/14.3.683. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Matar G. M., Swaminathan B., Hunter S. B., Slater L. N., Welch D. F. Polymerase chain reaction-based restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of a fragment of the ribosomal operon from Rochalimaea species for subtyping. J Clin Microbiol. 1993 Jul;31(7):1730–1734. doi: 10.1128/jcm.31.7.1730-1734.1993. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Maurin M., Roux V., Stein A., Ferrier F., Viraben R., Raoult D. Isolation and characterization by immunofluorescence, sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, western blot, restriction fragment length polymorphism-PCR, 16S rRNA gene sequencing, and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis of Rochalimaea quintana from a patient with bacillary angiomatosis. J Clin Microbiol. 1994 May;32(5):1166–1171. doi: 10.1128/jcm.32.5.1166-1171.1994. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Musser J. M., Hewlett E. L., Peppler M. S., Selander R. K. Genetic diversity and relationships in populations of Bordetella spp. J Bacteriol. 1986 Apr;166(1):230–237. doi: 10.1128/jb.166.1.230-237.1986. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Patnaik M., Schwartzman W. A., Barka N. E., Peter J. B. Possible role of Rochalimaea henselae in pathogenesis of AIDS encephalopathy. Lancet. 1992 Oct 17;340(8825):971–971. doi: 10.1016/0140-6736(92)92855-a. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Reboli A. C., Houston E. D., Monteforte J. S., Wood C. A., Hamill R. J. Discrimination of epidemic and sporadic isolates of Acinetobacter baumannii by repetitive element PCR-mediated DNA fingerprinting. J Clin Microbiol. 1994 Nov;32(11):2635–2640. doi: 10.1128/jcm.32.11.2635-2640.1994. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Regnery R. L., Anderson B. E., Clarridge J. E., 3rd, Rodriguez-Barradas M. C., Jones D. C., Carr J. H. Characterization of a novel Rochalimaea species, R. henselae sp. nov., isolated from blood of a febrile, human immunodeficiency virus-positive patient. J Clin Microbiol. 1992 Feb;30(2):265–274. doi: 10.1128/jcm.30.2.265-274.1992. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Regnery R. L., Olson J. G., Perkins B. A., Bibb W. Serological response to "Rochalimaea henselae" antigen in suspected cat-scratch disease. Lancet. 1992 Jun 13;339(8807):1443–1445. doi: 10.1016/0140-6736(92)92032-b. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Relman D. A., Loutit J. S., Schmidt T. M., Falkow S., Tompkins L. S. The agent of bacillary angiomatosis. An approach to the identification of uncultured pathogens. N Engl J Med. 1990 Dec 6;323(23):1573–1580. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199012063232301. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Schultz M. G. A history of bartonellosis (Carrión's disease). Am J Trop Med Hyg. 1968 Jul;17(4):503–515. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.1968.17.503. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Spach D. H., Callis K. P., Paauw D. S., Houze Y. B., Schoenknecht F. D., Welch D. F., Rosen H., Brenner D. J. Endocarditis caused by Rochalimaea quintana in a patient infected with human immunodeficiency virus. J Clin Microbiol. 1993 Mar;31(3):692–694. doi: 10.1128/jcm.31.3.692-694.1993. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Spach D. H., Panther L. A., Thorning D. R., Dunn J. E., Plorde J. J., Miller R. A. Intracerebral bacillary angiomatosis in a patient infected with human immunodeficiency virus. Ann Intern Med. 1992 May 1;116(9):740–742. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-116-9-740. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Versalovic J., Kapur V., Mason E. O., Jr, Shah U., Koeuth T., Lupski J. R., Musser J. M. Penicillin-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae strains recovered in Houston: identification and molecular characterization of multiple clones. J Infect Dis. 1993 Apr;167(4):850–856. doi: 10.1093/infdis/167.4.850. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Versalovic J., Koeuth T., Lupski J. R. Distribution of repetitive DNA sequences in eubacteria and application to fingerprinting of bacterial genomes. Nucleic Acids Res. 1991 Dec 25;19(24):6823–6831. doi: 10.1093/nar/19.24.6823. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Welch D. F., Pickett D. A., Slater L. N., Steigerwalt A. G., Brenner D. J. Rochalimaea henselae sp. nov., a cause of septicemia, bacillary angiomatosis, and parenchymal bacillary peliosis. J Clin Microbiol. 1992 Feb;30(2):275–280. doi: 10.1128/jcm.30.2.275-280.1992. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Woods C. R., Jr, Versalovic J., Koeuth T., Lupski J. R. Analysis of relationships among isolates of Citrobacter diversus by using DNA fingerprints generated by repetitive sequence-based primers in the polymerase chain reaction. J Clin Microbiol. 1992 Nov;30(11):2921–2929. doi: 10.1128/jcm.30.11.2921-2929.1992. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Woods C. R., Versalovic J., Koeuth T., Lupski J. R. Whole-cell repetitive element sequence-based polymerase chain reaction allows rapid assessment of clonal relationships of bacterial isolates. J Clin Microbiol. 1993 Jul;31(7):1927–1931. doi: 10.1128/jcm.31.7.1927-1931.1993. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. de Bruijn F. J. Use of repetitive (repetitive extragenic palindromic and enterobacterial repetitive intergeneric consensus) sequences and the polymerase chain reaction to fingerprint the genomes of Rhizobium meliloti isolates and other soil bacteria. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1992 Jul;58(7):2180–2187. doi: 10.1128/aem.58.7.2180-2187.1992. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Clinical Microbiology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES