PULSED-FIELD GEL-ELECTROPHORESIS ANALYSIS OF A PSEUDOMONAS-AERUGINOSA PATHOVAR

This paper presents the genome organization and mobility of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains that had been isolated in half-year intervals from 30 patients with cystic fibrosis since the onset of colonization over a 2- to 8-year period. The chromosomes were digested with DraI or SpeI, separated by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, blotted and hybridized with probes encoding housekeeping or virulence genes. Strains were differentiated by relatedness of macrorestriction fingerprints. After some turnover of strains during the first two years of colonization, each patient had acquired a set of strains that diversified during the course of the disease. In the majority of patients, two clonal lineages were found to account for colonization in the air passages but each lung habitat was characterized by some specific signature of bands in the macrorestriction fragment pattern.