Polymerase chain reaction identification of Salmonella serotypes

Seventy-seven Salmonella isolates comprising 61 different serotypes were subjected to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) fingerprinting using two primersets. Primerset L1/G1, amplifying the spacer regions between the 16S and 23S rRNA genes, resulted in simple PCR fingerprints. However, in some cases PCR amplification of different Salmonella serotypes with primerset L1/G1 resulted in identical fingerprint profiles. Fingerprints obtained with the ERIC primerset, that matches the enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus sequence, were more complicated but were serotype-specific. Consequently, fingerprinting with the ERIC primerset is applicable for typing Salmonella up to the serotype level. Fingerprinting with the L1 and G1 primers requires an additional treatment of the amplification product for accurate typing of salmonellas. Phage typing is not possible with either primerset.