Weis N, Lind I
Neisseria Department, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Scand J Infect Dis. 1998;30(1):69-75. doi: 10.1080/003655498750002330.
In order to estimate the performance of genotypic vs phenotypic characterization of Neisseria meningitidis, 2 methods, DNA fingerprinting and multilocus enzyme electrophoresis (MEE), were assessed as regards applicability, reproducibility and discriminating capacity. 50 serogroup B and 52 serogroup C Neisseria meningitidis strains from 96 patients with meningococcal disease and 22 serogroup C strains from healthy carriers were investigated. Both methods were 100% applicable to meningococcal strains and results of DNA fingerprinting as well as of MEE were reproducible. The number of types defined by DNA fingerprinting and MEE as compared to that defined by phenotypic characteristics (serogroup, serotype, serosubtype and sulphonamide resistance) was as follows: for serogroup B strains from patients, 11 and 12 vs 8; for serogroup C strains from patients, 10 and 15 vs 8; and for serogroup C carrier strains, 12 and 19 genotypes vs 10 phenotypes were defined. By use of both DNA fingerprinting and MEE the number of genotypes defined for the 3 groups of strains was 14, 17 and 19, respectively. DNA fingerprinting and MEE showed a discriminating capacity superior to that of phenotyping, and as applied in the study MEE was superior to DNA fingerprinting. Clusters of invasive strains were reliably identified by phenotyping alone, whereas determination of identity of carrier strains and an invasive strain required genotyping.
为评估脑膜炎奈瑟菌基因型与表型特征鉴定的性能，对DNA指纹图谱和多位点酶电泳（MEE）这两种方法在适用性、可重复性和鉴别能力方面进行了评估。研究了来自96例脑膜炎球菌病患者的50株B群和52株C群脑膜炎奈瑟菌菌株以及来自健康携带者的22株C群菌株。两种方法对脑膜炎球菌菌株的适用性均为100%，DNA指纹图谱和MEE的结果均可重复。与表型特征（血清群、血清型、血清亚型和磺胺耐药性）所定义的类型数量相比，DNA指纹图谱和MEE所定义的类型数量如下：对于患者的B群菌株，分别为11种和12种对8种；对于患者的C群菌株，分别为10种和15种对8种；对于C群携带者菌株，分别为12种和19种基因型对10种表型。使用DNA指纹图谱和MEE时，这三组菌株所定义的基因型数量分别为14种、17种和19种。DNA指纹图谱和MEE的鉴别能力优于表型分析，且在本研究中应用时，MEE优于DNA指纹图谱。仅通过表型分析就能可靠地识别侵袭性菌株的簇集，而确定携带者菌株和侵袭性菌株的同一性则需要进行基因分型。
