Fluorescent-BOX-PCR for resolving bacterial genetic diversity, endemism and biogeography

Lorenzo Brusetti, Iana Malkhazova, Maher Gtari, Isabella Tamagnini, Sara Borin, Maya Merabishvili, Nina Chanishvili, Diego Mora, Francesca Cappitelli, Daniele Daffonchio*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

28 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background. BOX-A1R-based repetitive extragenic palindromic-PCR (BOX-PCR) is one of the most used techniques in biogeography studies of microbial isolates. However the traditional separation of BOX-PCR patterns by agarose gel electrophoresis suffers many limitations. The aim of this research was to set up a fluorescent BOX-PCR (F-BOX-PCR) assay in which separation of PCR products is automated in a capillary electrophoresis system. F-BOX-PCR was compared with the traditional BOX-PCR using bacterial strains with different G+C content (Bacillus cereus; Escherichia coli; isolates of the family Geodermatophilaceae). Resolution, discriminatory power and reproducibility were evaluated by assaying different electrophoretic runs, PCR reactions and independent DNA extractions. BOX-PCR and F-BOX-PCR were compared for the analysis of 29 strains of Modestobacter multiseptatus isolated from three different microsites in an altered carbonatic wall from Cagliari, Italy, and 45 strains of Streptococcus thermophilus isolated from 34 samples of the hand-made, yogurt-like product Matsoni, collected in different locations in Georgia. Results. Fluorophore 6-FAM proved more informative than HEX and BOX-PCR both in agarose gel electrophoresis (p < 0.004 and p < 0.00003) and in capillary electrophoresis (compared only with HEX, p < 2 × 10-7). 6-FAM- and HEX-based F-BOX-PCR respectively detected up to 12.0 and 11.3 times more fragments than BOX-PCR. Replicate separations of F-BOX-PCR showed an accuracy of the size calling of ± 0.5 bp until 500 bp, constantly decreasing to ± 10 bp at 2000 bp. Cluster analysis of F-BOX-PCR profiles grouped M. multiseptatus strains according to the microsite of isolation and S. thermophilus strains according to the geographical origin of Matsoni, but resulted intermixed when a BOX-PCR dataset was used. Conclusion. F-BOX-PCR represents an improved method for addressing bacterial biogeography studies both in term of sensitivity, reproducibility and data analysis.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number220
JournalBMC microbiology
Volume8
DOIs
StatePublished - 2008
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by the EU project TRANSBAC QLK3-CT-2001-02242 (5th RTD Program) and the Italian FIRB project "Strategy to improve plant productivity under water stress conditions", funded by the Italian Ministry of University and Research. DD acknowledges support from the Fon-dazione dei Diritti Genetici, funded by Fondazione Cariplo, Italy. The authors thank Deborah Colnago and Antonio Zaccaria for excellent labo- ratory assistance. The manuscript was edited for language by Sachin Bach-ate.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Microbiology
  • Microbiology (medical)

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