Genetic diversity among dairy lactococcal strains investigated by polymerase chain reaction with three arbitrary primers

Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) has been used for the rapid typin g of Lactococcus lactis strains isolated from raw milk from the Camembert r egion of Normandy. It is thought that the diversity and perhaps the area st rain specificity due to climatic and geographical factors of such wild-type lactococcal strains could contribute to the flavour differences and specif ic features detected for the same product in different areas. The patterns from 58 isolates were analysed by UPGMA dendrograms. At a similarity level of 50%, four RAPD clusters were distinguished. Clusters 1 and 2 contained s trains of subspecies lactis and cluster 3 contained strains related to the C2 strain which is genetically cremoris but phenotypically lactis. The type strain of cremoris subspecies was significantly differentiated from these strains with primers P2 and P3. Thus, there was a real genetic diversity in pattern, making it possible to detect potential typical RAPD fragments.