Development of a DGGE method to explore Legionella communities

Legionella risk assessment is nowadays based on the presence and concentration of either Legionella pneumophila or Legionella spp. Many species of Legionella can cause Legionnaires' disease, indeed about half of the known species have been associated with infection. The aim of this work was to develop a method to assess the composition of the Legionella species community in an environmental sample in order to have a better understanding of the contamination of the ecosystem by pathogenic strains. The method is based on the comparison of PCR-DGGE profile of DNA sample with a database consisting in DGGE profiles of Legionella species. Such a database includes all pathogenic Legionella strains. In order to homogenize and normalize the different DGGE fingerprint, a reference marker has been built and added during DGGE gel analysis. This study gives a valuable advance in the methods available for the understanding of Legionella contamination of water environments.