DNA colony hybridization method using synthetic oligonucleotides to detect enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli: collaborative study.

The genes that encode several of the enterotoxins produced by Escherichia coli have been cloned by recombinant DNA techniques. When the nucleotide sequence of these genes is determined, defined sequence oligonucleotides that include a part of these genes may be synthesized. A 22-base DNA hybridization probe was produced for each of 2 heat-stable E. coli enterotoxin (ST) genes: STH, from strains originally isolated from humans; and STP, from strains first found in pigs. For this study, 32P end-labeled DNA probes, sonicated calf thymus DNA, and 3 known and 20 unknown (10 ST-positive and 10 ST-negative) strains were sent to each of 23 collaborators. Cultures were spotted onto an agar-based medium and grown into colonies, which were transferred by blotting to cellulose filters, lysed by alkali and steam, and used for DNA colony hybridization with the ST DNA probes. Strains containing an ST gene were recognized as dark spots on an autoradiogram. Of the 460 samples analyzed, 440 (95.7%) were correctly classified by the collaborators. The method has been adopted official first action.