Open AccessSpecies‐specific detection of Legionella using polymerase chain reaction and reverse dot‐blotting
Author(s) -
Robinson Peter N,
Heidrich Björn,
Tiecke Frank,
Fehrenbach Franz J,
Rolfs Arndt
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
fems microbiology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1574-6968
pISSN - 0378-1097
DOI - 10.1111/j.1574-6968.1996.tb08323.x
Subject(s) - legionella , legionella pneumophila , amplicon , polymerase chain reaction , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , legionnaires' disease , virology , bacteria , gene , genetics
Legionella pneumophila and some other Legionella species are capable of causing Legionnaire's disease, a potentially fatal pneumonia. The identification of legionellae by standard laboratory techniques such as culture is difficult and time‐consuming. In the present work, the DNA sequence of the 23S‐5S spacer region was determined for 43 Legionella isolates, and the sequence information was used to develop a species‐specific detection system using PCR and reverse dot‐blotting which employs just one PCR amplicon to perform genus‐ and species‐specific detection. L. pneumophila serogroups 1–16 as well as 21 non‐ pneumophila isolates could be identified and differentiated at the species level using this system.