Fluorescent amplified-fragment length polymorphism genotyping of Salmonella enterica subsp enterica serovars and comparison with pulsed-field gel electrophoresis typing

We have performed the fluorescently labeled amplified-fragment length polym orphism (FAFLP) method on 97 strains of the food-borne pathogen Salmonella enterica subsp, enterica comprising seven different serovars using the rest riction enzymes EcoRI and MseI. From the total FAFLP fingerprinted strains, 81 were compared with pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) typing of th e same strains. The FAFLP method showed a discriminatory power equal to tha t of PFGE. We report a fast, robust, and high-resolution adaptation of the AFLP assay for fingerprinting S. enterica subsp. enterica serovars with cap illary electrophoresis that can be scaled to high throughput on automated a nalysis instruments.