Comparison of 16S rDNA analysis and rep-PCR genomic fingerprinting for molecular identification of Yersinia pseudotuberculosis

16S rDNA sequence analysis and repetitive element sequence-based PCR (rep-PCR) genomic fingerprinting were evaluated on 11 type strains of the genus Yersinia and 17 recognized serotype strains of Y. pseudotuberculosis to investigate their genetic relatedness and to establish the value of techniques for the identification of Y. pseudotuberculosis. A phylogenetic tree constructed from 16S rDNA sequences showed that the type strains of Yersinia species formed distinct clusters with the exception of Y. pestis and Y. pseudotuberculosis. Moreover, Y. pestis NCTC 5923^T was found to be closely related to Y. pseudotuberculosis serotypes 1b, 3, and 7. Dendrograms generated from REP-PCR, and ERIC-PCR data revealed that members of the genus Yersinia differed from each other with the degree of similarity 62% and 58%, respectively. However, the BOX-PCR results showed that Y. pestis 5923^T clustered with the Y. pseudotuberculosis group with a degree of similarity 74%. According to these findings, 16S rDNA sequence analysis was unable to reliably discriminate Y. pseudotuberculosis from Y. pestis. However, REP-PCR and especially ERIC-PCR provided an effective means of differentiating between members of the taxa. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.