GENOMIC DNA-FINGERPRINTING OF CLINICAL ISOLATES OF HELICOBACTER-PYLORI BY REP-PCR AND RESTRICTION FRAGMENT END-LABELING

Genetic diversity of 32 Helicobacter pylori strains isolated from pati ents with gastritis, gastric or duodenal ulcer, carcinoma, or lymphoma was determined by repetitive sequence element polymerase chain reacti on (REP-PCR), and by the new typing method restriction fragment end-la belling (RFEL). Furthermore, these two methods were used to investigat e a possible correlation between clinical symptoms and the genetic bac kground of Helicobacter pylori. Both REP-PCR and RFEL revealed 31 diff erent patterns for the 32 strains tested, but the pair of isolates wit h identical REP-PCR patterns was not the same as the pair of isolates with identical RFEL patterns. Computer-assisted analysis of the DNA fi ngerprints was used to determine similarity coefficients. This analysi s revealed no clustering of disease-specific strains by any of the two methods. (C) 1998 Federation of European Microbiological Societies. P ublished by Elsevier Science B.V.