Genotyping of Chromobacterium violaceum isolates by recA PCR-RFLP analysis

Intraspecies variation of Chromobacterium violaceum was examined by comparative sequence - and by restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of the recombinase A gene (recA-PCR-RFLP). Primers deduced from the known recA gene sequence of the type strain C. violaceum ATCC 12472(T) allowed the specific amplification of a 1040 bp recA fragment from each of the 13 C violaceum strains investigated, whereas other closely related organisms tested negative. HindII-PstI-recA RFLP analysis generated from 13 representative C violaceum strains enabled us to identify at least three different genospecies. In conclusion, analysis of the recA gene provides a rapid and robust nucleotide sequence-based approach to specifically identify and classify C violaceum on genospecies level. (c) 2005 Federation of European Microbiological Societies. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.