Genotyping of Verocytotoxin-Producing Escherichia coli O157: Comparison of Isolates of a Prevalent Phage Type by Fluorescent Amplified-Fragment Length Polymorphism and Pulsed-Field Gel Electrophoresis Analyses

We applied the high-resolution genotyping technique fluorescent amplified-fragment length polymorphism (FAFLP) analysis to 71 isolates of a single phage type (PT8) of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE)-characterized verocytotoxin-producing Escherichia coli O157. Twenty-seven similar, but not identical, groupings were defined by both FAFLP analysis and the PFGE profiles. Given the FAFLP analysis conditions described here, these two methods exhibited equivalent discriminatory powers.