Molecular Identification

There are numerous reports on typing or differentiation of strains within the same species of Vibrio by various genetic fingerprinting methods. These include ribotyping, restriction fragment length polymorphism, amplified fragment length polymorphism, arbitrarily primed polymerase chain reaction PCR (AP-PCR) or randomly amplified polymorphic DNA PCR, enterobacterial intergenic consensus sequence PCR, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, and multilocus sequence typing. These techniques require more attention than the gene probe and the PCR techniques and are not suitable for routine examination. Essential genes are conserved in bacteria and other organisms but the sequence may vary, and they are used for phylogenetic analysis. Genetic examination of the Vibrio cholerae strains shows rare strains carrying the toxin genes that are reported to be major virulence genes in other bacterial species. Various 16S rRNA gene-targeted oligonucleotide probes to identify Vibrio vulnificus have been reported. Some strains of Vibrio mimicus share important virulence genes with V. cholerae and less frequently with Vibrio parahaemolyticus. The most frequently used systems are based on the multiplex PCR formats. Practical application of molecular identification techniques is limited mostly to medically important Vibrio species. Selection of suitable target genes and fine-tuning of their detection conditions are the basis for development of more sophisticated molecular identification systems, including multiplex PCR and real-time PCR

Bacteria · Biology · Gene · Genome · Genotype · Intergenic region · Multilocus sequence typing · Multiplex polymerase chain reaction · Polymerase chain reaction · Ribotyping · Typing · Vibrio cholerae · Virulence · Aquaculture disease management and microbiota · Salmonella and Campylobacter epidemiology · Vibrio bacteria research studies · Genetics · Microbiology