Biomaterial Database

Typing of Neisseria meningitidis by restriction analysis of the amplified porA gene. 1997

D J Speers, and J Jelfs

Department of Microbiology, Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, Subiaco, Australia.

We tested a typing system for 54 isolates of Neisseria meningitidis using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of the porA gene. The isolates were obtained between 1989 and 1994 from cases in Western Australia and Sydney. The PCR product was digested by five restriction endonucleases (AluI, HaeIII, HinfI, RsaI and HpaII) giving a restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) pattern for each isolate. All of the isolates were able to be assigned an RFLP pattern, whereas 24 could be fully serotyped and serosubtyped. The method was rapid and simple to perform and results were easy to interpret. Two outbreaks of invasive meningococcal disease were included in the analysis, one involving an hyperendemic focus of disease and the other characteristic of a point outbreak. The typing system demonstrated the genetic relatedness of isolates from the point outbreak and the genetic diversity among the hyperendemic strains. We conclude that the method is discriminatory and is a useful supplement to serological typing for studying Australian outbreaks of invasive meningococcal disease.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D009345	Neisseria meningitidis	A species of gram-negative, aerobic BACTERIA. It is a commensal and pathogen only of humans, and can be carried asymptomatically in the NASOPHARYNX. When found in cerebrospinal fluid it is the causative agent of cerebrospinal meningitis (MENINGITIS, MENINGOCOCCAL). It is also found in venereal discharges and blood. There are at least 13 serogroups based on antigenic differences in the capsular polysaccharides; the ones causing most meningitis infections being A, B, C, Y, and W-135. Each serogroup can be further classified by serotype, serosubtype, and immunotype.	Diplokokkus intracellularis meningitidis,Meningococcus,Micrococcus intracellularis,Micrococcus meningitidis,Micrococcus meningitidis cerebrospinalis,Neisseria weichselbaumii
D012150	Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length	Variation occurring within a species in the presence or length of DNA fragment generated by a specific endonuclease at a specific site in the genome. Such variations are generated by mutations that create or abolish recognition sites for these enzymes or change the length of the fragment.	RFLP,Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism,RFLPs,Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphisms
D012703	Serotyping	Process of determining and distinguishing species of bacteria or viruses based on antigens they share.	Serotypings
D015373	Bacterial Typing Techniques	Procedures for identifying types and strains of bacteria. The most frequently employed typing systems are BACTERIOPHAGE TYPING and SEROTYPING as well as bacteriocin typing and biotyping.	Bacteriocin Typing,Biotyping, Bacterial,Typing, Bacterial,Bacterial Biotyping,Bacterial Typing,Bacterial Typing Technic,Bacterial Typing Technics,Bacterial Typing Technique,Technic, Bacterial Typing,Technics, Bacterial Typing,Technique, Bacterial Typing,Techniques, Bacterial Typing,Typing Technic, Bacterial,Typing Technics, Bacterial,Typing Technique, Bacterial,Typing Techniques, Bacterial,Typing, Bacteriocin
D016133	Polymerase Chain Reaction	In vitro method for producing large amounts of specific DNA or RNA fragments of defined length and sequence from small amounts of short oligonucleotide flanking sequences (primers). The essential steps include thermal denaturation of the double-stranded target molecules, annealing of the primers to their complementary sequences, and extension of the annealed primers by enzymatic synthesis with DNA polymerase. The reaction is efficient, specific, and extremely sensitive. Uses for the reaction include disease diagnosis, detection of difficult-to-isolate pathogens, mutation analysis, genetic testing, DNA sequencing, and analyzing evolutionary relationships.	Anchored PCR,Inverse PCR,Nested PCR,PCR,Anchored Polymerase Chain Reaction,Inverse Polymerase Chain Reaction,Nested Polymerase Chain Reaction,PCR, Anchored,PCR, Inverse,PCR, Nested,Polymerase Chain Reactions,Reaction, Polymerase Chain,Reactions, Polymerase Chain
D018272	Porins	Porins are protein molecules that were originally found in the outer membrane of GRAM-NEGATIVE BACTERIA and that form multi-meric channels for the passive DIFFUSION of WATER; IONS; or other small molecules. Porins are present in bacterial CELL WALLS, as well as in plant, fungal, mammalian and other vertebrate CELL MEMBRANES and MITOCHONDRIAL MEMBRANES.	Pore Protein,Pore Proteins,Porin,Protein, Pore,Proteins, Pore