Diverse restriction fragment length polymorphism patterns of the PCR-amplified 16S rRNA genes in Aeromonas veronii strains and possible misidentification of Aeromonas species.

Restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis after PCR amplification (RFLP-PCR) of the 16S rRNA gene has been previously proposed as a rapid method to identify Aeromonas species. In the present study, the precision of RFLP-PCR was evaluated with 62 Aeromonas reference strains. The analysis revealed that Aeromonas veronii biovar sobria strains produce various patterns, possibly leading to its misidentification as an environmental species. For most other Aeromonas species little variation was noted. This study supports the usefulness of RFLP-PCR analysis to separate three clinically important species but also reveals possible misidentifications that necessitate further biochemical tests to validate the preliminary identification.