Rapid species identification of "Streptococcus milleri" strains by line blot hybridization: identification of a distinct 16S rRNA population closely related to Streptococcus constellatus.

J.A. Jacobs*, C.S. Schot, A.E. Bunschoten, L.M. Schouls

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Rapid species identification of "Streptococcus milleri" strains by line blot hybridization: identification of a distinct 16S rRNA population closely related to Streptococcus constellatus.

Jacobs JA, Schot CS, Bunschoten AE, Schouls LM.

Department of Medical Microbiology, University Hospital of Maastricht, The Netherlands.

A collection of 399 "Streptococcus milleri" strains were identified to the species level by the use of a line blot assay. Their PCR-amplified partial 16S rRNA gene sequences were hybridized with species-specific 5'-biotinylated oligonucleotide probes homologous to the bp 213 to 231 regions of the 16S rRNA gene sequences of the type strains Streptococcus anginosus ATCC 33397, Streptococcus constellatus ATCC 27823, and Streptococcus intermedius ATCC 27335. The hybridization results were compared with the reference phenotypic identification method data (R. A. Whiley, H. Fraser, J. M. Hardie, and D. Beighton, J. Clin. Microbiol. 28:1497-1501, 1990). Most strains (357 of 399 [89.5%]) reacted unambiguously with only one probe. However, 42 of the 399 strains (10.5%) reacted with both the S. constellatus- and S. intermedius-specific probes; 41 of them were phenotypically identified as S. constellatus. These dually reactive strains hybridized with a 5'-biotinylated probe based on the bp 213 to 231 region of the 16S rRNA gene sequence of one of two species. Analysis of the 5' ends of the 16S rRNA gene sequences (487 bp) demonstrated that the dually reactive strains represent a distinct rRNA population sharing 98.1% sequence similarity with S. constellatus. Phenotypic consistency between the dually reactive strains and the S. constellatus strains was not demonstrated. Line blot hybridization proved to be a simple and inexpensive method to screen large numbers of strains for genetic relatedness, and it allowed the detection of a distinct 16S rRNA type within the "S. milleri" group.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1717-1721
JournalJournal of Clinical Microbiology
Volume34
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 1996

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Rapid species identification of "Streptococcus milleri" strains by line blot hybridization: identification of a distinct 16S rRNA population closely related to Streptococcus constellatus.'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this