TYPING OF STAPHYLOCOCCUS-AUREUS BY AMPLIFICATION OF THE 16S-23S RIBOSOMAL-RNA INTERGENIC SPACER SEQUENCES

The possibility of using polymorphisms in the spacer regions between 1 6S and 23S rRNA genes in order to type Staphylococcus aureus has been evaluated. To this purpose, DNA extracted from 74 independent isolates was amplified making use of a pair of primers complementary to conser ved regions in the 16S and 23S genes. We have demonstrated that the me thod provides a good discrimination between unrelated isolates, giving better results when methicillin-sensitive strains are considered. Mor eover, the amplification profiles were reproducible and all strains we re typable. Given these results, and the technical simplicity of the p rocess, we propose PCR-ribotyping to be taken into consideration as a method for typing S. aureus.