RAPID SPECIES IDENTIFICATION WITHIN 2 GROUPS OF CLOSELY-RELATED LACTOBACILLI USING PCR PRIMERS THAT TARGET THE 16S 23S RIBOSOMAL-RNA SPACERREGION/

A rapid and reliable PCR-based method for distinguishing closely relat ed species within two groups of lactobacilli is described. Primers com plementary to species-specific sequences in the 16S/23S rDNA spacer re gions were designed after sequencing and sequence comparison of the sp acer regions of 32 strains. The strains belong to two groups of closel y related Lactobacillus species; one composed of Lactobacillus curvatu s, Lactobacillus graminis and Lactobacillus sake, the other of Lactoba cillus paraplantarum, Lactobacillus pentosus and Lactobacillus plantar um. PCR assays with the designed primers and subsequent agarose gel an alysis of the amplified fragments allowed the same species identificat ion as the DNA/DNA hybridization procedure. (C) 1998 Federation of Eur opean Microbiological Societies. Published by Elsevier Science B.V.