THE USE OF RAPD-PCR AS A TYPING METHOD FOR SERRATIA-MARCESCENS

Serratia marcescens has emerged in the last few years as an important nosocomial pathogen, Many methods for typing this organism have been d escribed, In this study the random amplified polymorphic DNA-polymeras e chain reaction (RAPD-PCR) was shown to be a convenient typing method for S. marcescens. Different combinations of primers previously used for typing other gram-negative bacilli were assessed. The combination of primer HLWL-74 and 1254 gave distinguishable patterns for different serotypes and proved to be the most satisfactory, By applying this co mbination to 175 isolates of S. marcescens, which could be classified into 38 groups on the basis of serotyping and phage typing, 73 differe nt RAPD patterns with good reproducibility were obtained. This is, to our knowledge, the first application of the method to a large collecti on of S. marcescens representing a wide range of serotypes.