A DATABASE SYSTEM FOR FRAGMENT PATTERNS OF GENOMIC DNA OF STAPHYLOCOCCUS-AUREUS

The increasing use of molecular fingerprints in the epidemiology of ba cterial nosocomial infections urgently demands a computerised analysis and storage of corresponding patterns, especially with regard to resu lts obtained at different times and in different laboratories. This pa per presents a database system in connection with cluster analysis of clonal relations by using genomic DNA fragment patterns of S. aureus ( SmaI-digestion, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis) as an example: The d atabase is operated under MS-Access, version 2.0. The cluster analysis is based on an optimising similarity algorithm.