Riboprints as a tool for rapid preliminary identification of sphingomonads

Fourtythree strains of the genus Sphingomonas and close relatives were subjected to riboprint analyses generated after digestion of genomic DNA with the restriction enzyme EcoRI and hybridization with E. coli rrnB operon. The majority of strains were characterized by a complex banding pattern in the riboprints. High degrees of similarities in the riboprints were only observed among strains of the same species such as S. yanoikuyae, S. aromaticivorans, S. subarctica and S. chlorophenolica. Strains of different species including close phylogenetic relatives such as S. asaccharolytica, S. mali and S. pruni were easily distinguished by the differences in the riboprints even after visual evaluation. Thus, our data demonstrate that riboprint analysis is useful for preliminary identification of new sphingomonad isolates at the species level.