Genomic fingerprinting of pigeon Streptococcus gallolyticus strains of different virulence by randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis

Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis was performed on 95 pige on S. gallolyticus strains of different virulence and belonging to differen t biotypes and different culture supernatant phenotypes as determined by SD S-PAGE, Four distinct RAPD patterns, designated A, B, C and D, were disting uished using primer OPM6 (5'CTGGGCAACT). All 76 strains generating RAPD pat tern A or B were designated highly virulent on the basis of their SDS-PAGE pattern. Five of seven strains generating RAPD pattern C and 11 of 12 strai ns generating RAPD pattern D belonged to the moderately virulent and low vi rulent culture supernatant phenotype groups, respectively. Only one RAPD gr oup C strain belonged to a highly virulent culture supernatant phenotype gr oup. There was a correlation between biotype and RAPD patterns. These findi ngs indicate that there is a high correlation between RAPD pattern and viru lence for pigeons. Therefore, RAPD typing seems a rapid, reliable method to distinguish pigeon S. gallolyticus strains of high, moderate and low virul ence. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.