MOLECULAR CHARACTERIZATION OF COXIELLA-BURNETII ISOLATES

Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) was used for the diffe rentiation of 80 Coxiella burnetii isolates derived from animals and h umans in Europe, USA, Africa and Asia. After NotI restriction of total C. burnetii DNA and pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) 20 differ ent restriction patterns were distinguished. The index of discriminati on for this typing system was 0.86. Comparison and phylogenetic analys is of the different RFLP patterns revealed evolutionary relationships among groups that corresponded to the geographical origin of the isola tes. This finding was confirmed by genetic capping. No correlation bet ween restriction group and virulence of isolates was detected.