A simple procedure to differentiate ailA and ailNA gene variants among human pathogenic yersinia enterocolitica strains

Abstract

The identification and differentiation of the two variants of the ail gene, ail A from the more virulent American serotypes (08, 013a, 13b, 018, 020, 021) and ail NA from the less virulent non-American serotypes (3, 04, 05, 06, 09, 027, and 07, 8) was studied in a panel of 32 Yersinia enterocolitica human pathogenic isolates. A 444 bp fragment corresponding to the ail gene was amplified using a PCR procedure in all tested strains. Subsequent digestion of the PCR product by R sal and by HaeIII endonucleases, provide electrophoretic patterns that clearly discriminate ail A and ail NA variants. This non-radioactive and reliable procedure allows large clinical and epidemiological studies, and could be proposed to survey the spread of virulent clones.