Fingerprinting with RAPD to ID mycoplasma

摘要

Definitive diagnosis of Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG) relies primarily on isolation of mycoplasmas in culture followed by species identification using polyclonal antisera in direct immunofluorescence or growth inhibition tests. These methods, however, cannot distinguish among strains or isolates of MG, an ability that is key to identification of vaccine strains and epidemiological investigation of outbreaks. Therefore, the following original objectives were proposed: 1) to optimize the random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) test for strain identification of MG and validate its utility using MG reference and vaccine strains; 2) to standardize a RAPD gel electrophoresis computer-assisted analysis system and establish a database of MG strain identities; and 3) to investigate the molecular epidemiology of the current outbreak of MG-caused conjunctivitis in house finches using the RAPD analysis system.