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Updated: Aug 17, 2026

Identification of Rare Bacterial Pathogens by 16S rRNA Gene Sequencing and MALDI-TOF MS
Published on: July 11, 2016
Grouping of streptomycetes using 16S-ITS RFLP fingerprinting
Benjamin Lanoot1, Marc Vancanneyt, Bart Hoste
1BCCM/LMG Bacteria Collection and Laboratorium voor Microbiologie, University Gent, K.L. Ledeganckstraat 35, 9000 Ghent, Belgium. Benjamin.Lanoot @Ugent.be
Abstract:
A total of 463 Streptomyces and Kitasatospora type strains were screened using 16S-ITS RFLP fingerprinting (combined restriction digest using enzymes BstUI and HaeIII). In total, 59 clusters could be delineated, each comprising multiple strains with nearly identical patterns. Good correlation was found in general with phylogeny, as revealed by 16S rDNA sequencing. Most strains assigned to a particular 16S-ITS RFLP cluster were classified into the corresponding 16S sequencing cluster whether a 16S similarity cut-off value of 97 or 98% was used. We conclude that the taxonomic resolution of 16S-ITS RFLP fingerprinting is higher than that of 16S rDNA sequencing; this may provide a tool for reducing the number of laborious DNA-DNA hybridizations necessary for discovering potentially new species within Streptomyces.
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