RT Journal Article SR Electronic(1) A1 Robertson, Gail A. A1 Thiruvenkataswamy, Venugopal A1 Shilling, Hayden A1 Price, Erin P. A1 Huygens, Flavia A1 Henskens, Frans A. A1 Giffard, Philip M.YR 2004 T1 Identification and interrogation of highly informative single nucleotide polymorphism sets defined by bacterial multilocus sequence typing databases JF Journal of Medical Microbiology, VO 53 IS 1 SP 35 OP 45 DO https://doi.org/10.1099/jmm.0.05365-0 PB Microbiology Society, SN 1473-5644, AB A unified, bioinformatics-driven, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-based approach to microbial genotyping has been developed. Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) databases consist of known variants of standardized housekeeping genes. Normally, seven fragments are defined; a sequence type (ST) consists of the variants of these fragments that are found in a particular isolate. A computer program that can identify highly informative sets of SNPs in entire MLST databases has been constructed. The SNPs either define a particular user-specified ST or provide a high value for Simpson's index of diversity (D), and may thus be generally applicable to that species. SNP sets that are diagnostic for Neisseria meningitidis ST-11 and ST-42, and high-D SNP sets for N. meningitidis and Staphylococcus aureus, were identified and real-time PCR methods to interrogate these SNPs were demonstrated. High-D SNP sets were also identified in other MLST databases. This widely applicable approach allows rapid genetic fingerprinting of infectious agents., UL https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/jmm.0.05365-0