Molecular identification of microorganisms: identification of bacterial or fungal strains cultivated on microbiological media with use of rep-PCR technique

The genomes of bacteria and fungi contain a large number of dispersed repetitive DNA sequences located at distant intergenic positions throughout the genome. The rep-PCR technique employs primers that bind to repetitive sequences, which enables generation of DNA profiles for bacterial strains and species. This technique makes it possible to determine the genetic diversity of isolates of microorganisms extracted from the soil and cultivated on microbiological media. By using the rep-PCR technique, it is possible to discriminate bacteria and fungi even down to the subspecies, strain, or isolate level.