New approaches in genome analysis by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis: application to the analysis of Pseudomonas species

A general method for the evaluation of macrorestriction fragment patterns is presented and its applicability to the taxonomy of bacteria is demonstrated for 32 Pseudomonas species. Strains were differentiated at the species and subspecies level by genome size and macrorestriction fragment fingerprints of the chromosome that had been separated on pulsed-field gels. The relatedness of bacteria was ascertained from the similarity of AsnI, DraI, SpeI, SspI or XbaI fragment patterns. In general, the dendrograms calculated from the genome fingerprints corresponded with the phylogenetic classification obtained from phenotypic marker or nucleic acid hybridization analysis, but several exceptions were noted. The techniques and algorithms presented herein are generally applicable to the genome analysis of bacteria, lower eukaryotes, and DNA fragments cloned in yeast artificial chromosomes.