Recognition of SCCmec types according to typing pattern determined by multienzyme multiplex PCR-amplified fragment length polymorphism analysis of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

Multienzyme multiplex PCR-amplified fragment length polymorphism (ME-AFLP) typing is a reliable and simple method for typing of bacterial species. In this study we analyzed two well-documented strain collections of Staphylococcus aureus and compared ME-AFLP typing results with results of various other typing methods. The discriminatory power of ME-AFLP was found comparable to pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, and typing results were highly concordant. ME-AFLP typing presents a suitable method for prescreening of large strain collections. Furthermore, the obtained typing patterns were found to cluster according to the staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec types of the strains.