SIMPLIFIED ANALYSIS OF PATHOGENIC LEPTOSPIRAL SEROVARS BY RANDOM AMPLIFIED POLYMORPHIC DNA-FINGERPRINTING

A rapid, simplified procedure combining random amplified polymorphic D NA (RAPD) fingerprinting of boiled cultures with high resolution agaro se gel electrophoresis was used to compare strains from 46 pathogenic leptospiral serovars, The serovars were placed in eight groups on the basis of RAPD profile similarities, Groups 1-7 corresponded with the g enome species Leptospira interrogans, L. borgpetersenii, L. santarosai , L. noguchii, L. weilii, L. kirschneri and L. meyeri. The eighth grou p did not correspond with a known genome species and may represent a n ew genome species, Primer choice determined the degree of discriminati on possible between closely related serovars and genotypes. This proce dure, unlike other procedures used for analysing taxonomic relationshi ps between leptospiral serovars, does not require extensive DNA purifi cation, polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis or autoradiography.