IDENTIFICATION OF BARTONELLA USING PCR - GENUS AND SPECIES-SPECIFIC PRIMER SETS

Four Bartonella species cause a variety of emerging infectious disease s in humans that can be difficult to diagnose. A PCR-based identificat ion system using amplimers designed from internal portions of the 16S- 23S intergenic spacer (ITS) region is described. A genus-specific prim er set can distinguish Bartonella species from Escherichia coli or clo sely-related alpha-Proteobacteria including Brucella abortus, Agrobact erium tumefaciens and Rhizobium meliloti. Species-specific primer sets for bartonellae that cause human disease (B. bacilliformis, B. elizab ethae, B. henselae and B. quintana) produce single, unique amplicons f rom their respective target and do not react with DNA from other Barto nella species, close bacterial relatives, or E. coli. The described sy stem streamlines current PCR-based identification of pathogenic barton ellae by generating genus- or species-specific amplicons, obviating th e need for subsequent RFLP or sequence analysis of the PCR product. (C ) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.