Clustering of clinical and environmental Escherichia coli O104 isolates using the DiversiLab™ repetitive sequence-based PCR system.

The DiversiLab™ rep-PCR system was used to amplify DNA regions of 28 well-characterized Escherichia coli O104 strains to generate a digital DNA fingerprint profile for strain differentiation. E. coli O104 strains from human stools and other sources were examined. The results indicate that this system can cluster similar O104 strains rapidly.