%0 Journal Article %A Grtler, Volker %A Barrie, Helen D. %T Typing of Staphylococcus aureus strains by PCR-amplification of variable-length 16S-23S rDNA spacer regions: characterization of spacer sequences %D 1995 %J Microbiology, %V 141 %N 5 %P 1255-1265 %@ 1465-2080 %R https://doi.org/10.1099/13500872-141-5-1255 %K spacer regions %K typing %K rrn operon %K Staphylococcus aureus %K rDNA %I Microbiology Society, %X SUMMARY To develop a rapid and accurate method of typing large numbers of clinical isolates of Staphylococcus aureus, the spacer region C of the rRNA operon [1391-507 (16S-23S)] was enzymically amplified from 322 strains. When the products were separated by denaturing PAGE, 15 variable-length rrn alleles were demonstrated, ranging in size from 906 to 1223 bp. The variable-length HpaII-digested region C [(region E; 1446-196 (16S-23S)] amplification products were cloned into M13mp18RF to sequence separate variable-length alleles. A total of 17 region E inserts were sequenced, aligned and divided into nine alleles by length (938-1174) and sequence properties. The 16S-23S spacer rDNA varied in length (303-551 bp) and in properties; three alleles contained a tRNAlle gene alone, two alleles contained a tRNAlle and a tRNAAla gene, and four alleles lacked tRNA genes. The sequences of two alleles showed less than 1% variation when isolated from two or three S. aureus strains. The 48 penicillin-and methicillin-sensitive strains were divided into 26 ribotypes; in contrast, the 274 methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) strains were divided into nine ribotypes (A-I) with 97% typing as either ribotype A or B (rrnL was missing in B). The sequence conservation of the rrn operons argues for the use of the 16S-23S spacer region as a stable and direct indicator of the evolutionary divergence of S. aureus strains. %U https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/micro/10.1099/13500872-141-5-1255