DETECTION AND DIFFERENTIATION OF THE GENE FOR TOXIN COREGULATED PILI (TCPA) IN VIBRIO-CHOLERAE NON-O1 USING THE POLYMERASE CHAIN-REACTION

The polymerase chain reaction has been used to differentiate the gene which encodes the toxin co-regulated pill (tcpA) of the El Tor and classical biotypes of Vibrio cholerae O1. The same PCR primers were applied to strains belonging to non-O1 serogroups that produced cholera toxin. The size of fragment amplified was either identical to the tcpA of biotype El Tor (471 bp) or to the tcpA of biotype classical(617 bp). All strains belonging to the novel epidemic serogroup 0139 generated a 471-bp fragment identical to EI Tor tcpA. The present study suggests that there may be an association between non-O1 serogroup and tcpA type.