Killoran Patrick B, O'Connell Janice, Mothershed Elizabeth A, Probert Will S
Microbial Diseases Laboratory, California Department of Health Services, 850 Marina Bay Parkway, Richmond, CA 94804, USA.
J Microbiol Methods. 2006 Nov;67(2):330-8. doi: 10.1016/j.mimet.2006.04.004. Epub 2006 Jun 5.
Molecular subtyping is of significant importance to the recognition of outbreaks of meningococcal disease caused by serogroup C Neisseria meningitidis. We describe the application of multilocus variable number tandem repeat analysis (MLVA) for the molecular subtyping of N. meningitidis and compare its performance to that of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). For MLVA, a multiplex PCR assay targeting five variable number tandem repeat regions was developed and evaluated using a panel of sporadic and outbreak-associated serogroup C N. meningitidis isolates. MLVA was highly reproducible and provided results within 6 h. Overall, the discriminatory power of MLVA was equivalent to that of PFGE. The utilization of MLVA for subtyping N. meningitidis isolates provides a rapid and safer alternative to PFGE for identifying outbreaks of meningococcal disease. As such, it may provide public health officials with timely information that may minimize the spread of outbreak-related cases through prophylaxis.
分子分型对于识别由C群脑膜炎奈瑟菌引起的脑膜炎球菌病暴发具有重要意义。我们描述了多位点可变数目串联重复序列分析（MLVA）在脑膜炎奈瑟菌分子分型中的应用，并将其性能与脉冲场凝胶电泳（PFGE）进行比较。对于MLVA，开发了一种针对五个可变数目串联重复区域的多重PCR检测方法，并使用一组散发性和与暴发相关的C群脑膜炎奈瑟菌分离株进行评估。MLVA具有高度可重复性，且在6小时内即可得出结果。总体而言，MLVA的鉴别能力与PFGE相当。利用MLVA对脑膜炎奈瑟菌分离株进行分型，为识别脑膜炎球菌病暴发提供了一种比PFGE更快、更安全的替代方法。因此，它可为公共卫生官员提供及时信息，通过预防措施尽量减少与暴发相关病例的传播。
