An Introduction to the Hows and Whys of Molecular Typing

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Abstract
Until recently, the relatedness of bacterial isolates has been determined solely by testing for one or several phenotypic markers, using methods such as serotyping, phage typing, biotyping, antibiotic susceptibility testing, and bacteriocin typing. However, there are problems in the use of many of these phenotype-based methods. For example, phage and bacteriocin typing systems are not available for all bacterial species and serotyping can be labor-intensive and costly. In addition, phenotypic markers may not be stably expressed under certain environmental or culture conditions. In contrast, some of the newer molecular typing methods involving the analysis of DNA offer many advantages over traditional techniques. One of the more important advantages is that since DNA can always be extracted from bacteria, all bacteria should be typeable. Another is that the discriminatory power of DNA-based methods is greater than that of phenotypic procedures. This review focuses on the basics of molecular typing along wi...

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