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Identification of Flavobacterinium and Flexibacterin species by species-specific polymerase chain reaction primers to the 16S ribosomal RNA gene

J.A. Bader·E. B. Shotts
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Abstract

Species-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primers have been developed for the identification of the causative agents of warmwater and marine finrot in fish: Flavobacterium columnare ( Flexibacter columnaris ) and Flexibacter maritimus. Differences in gene sequence in the bacterial small-subunit (16S) ribosomal RNA (rRNA) were used to design the species-specific PCR primers. The previously reported species-specific PCR primers Psy1 and Psy2 for the identification of Flavobacterium psychrophilum ( Flexibacter psychrophila ), the causative agent of coldwater finrot, were also used to develop a speciation scheme for all three bacterial finrots. These three primer sets were successful in discriminating among yellow-pigmented bacteria as well as in speciating the three major pathogenic flexibacteria to fish. The primer sets were designed to produce uniquely sized subproducts of 16S rRNA for each species: Flavobacterium psychrophilum (1,100 base pairs, bp), F. columnare (800 bp), and Flexibacter maritimus (400 bp). These primers were shown to correctly speciate field isolates in double-blind experiments ( P = 0.01).

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BibTeXRIS

J.A. Bader, E. B. Shotts. 1998. Identification of Flavobacterinium and Flexibacterin species by species-specific polymerase chain reaction primers to the 16S ribosomal RNA gene. https://doi.org/10.1577/1548-8667(1998)010%3C0311%3Aiofafs%3E2.0.co%3B2

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