Abstract
The emerging clinical importance of staphylococcal infections prompted us to establish a reference database for partial RNA polymerase B (rpoB; nucleotides 1444–1928) gene sequences from type strains of all staphylococcal species and subspecies. This database correctly identified 55 clinical staphylococcal isolates; all were correctly identified at the species level. At the subspecies level, rpoB misidentified only 2 isolates.
Highlights
The emerging clinical importance of staphylococcal infections prompted us to establish a reference database for partial RNA polymerase B gene sequences from type strains of all staphylococcal species and subspecies
We recently described the usefulness of genotypic identification of staphylococcal subspecies by using partial 16S rDNA sequences in comparison with phenotypic tests [3]
This strain collection was previously analyzed by the API ID 32 Staph and VITEK 2 systems, partial 16S rDNA sequencing, chemotaxonomy, and riboprinting to determine species designation [3]
Summary
The emerging clinical importance of staphylococcal infections prompted us to establish a reference database for partial RNA polymerase B (rpoB; nucleotides 1444– 1928) gene sequences from type strains of all staphylococcal species and subspecies. Staphylococcal subspecies not included in the databases of commercial identification systems, as well as phenotypic variants (e.g., small-colony variants), are often misidentified [2]. We recently described the usefulness of genotypic identification of staphylococcal subspecies by using partial 16S rDNA sequences in comparison with phenotypic tests [3]. The partial 16S rDNA sequences used were not discriminative enough to differentiate all staphylococcal subspecies.
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