Development of the Specific and Random Amplification (SARA)-PCR for both species identification of enterococci and detection of the vanA gene

A rapid and reliable polymerase chain reaction (Specific and Random Amplifi cation (SARA)-PCR) has been developed to identify enterococcal species and to detect the vanA gene in one single reaction. This technique was based on the use of the primer set previously designed to amplify a part of the van A gene (Dutka-Malen et al., J. Clin. Microbiol., 33 (1995) 24-27. Zn the ch osen low stringency conditions complex patterns were obtained, with a sharp band of similar to 700 bp in cases where the vanA gene was present. Discri mination at the species and strain level was achieved by applying the SARA- PCR assay to a collection of 55 enterococcal isolates and type strains. Sim ultaneously the vanA gene was detected in all strains showing high resistan ce to vancomycin. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.