16S Ribosomal RNA Gene Sequencing

In biopharmaceutical production areas the microbial §count should be kept to a minimum to ensure the §stability and cleanliness of drug products. In general, the conventional API and VITEK methods are §used to characterize them. However, more and more §frequently, microbiologists isolate "difficult" §strains that such automated systems often fail to §identify. Those "difficult" strains are often found §in clean room areas, because the use of §disinfectants leads to a change in the metabolic §pattern and so the conventional methods provide §wrong results. The author, Sandra Tscherwizek, shows §an opportunity to identify such difficult strains §via a 16S rRNA gene sequencing method based on the §genetic level, and describes how to interpret the §outcome. Furthermore a cost-benefit calculation was §done to compare the conventional methods Vitek and §API with the sequencing method. The study shows that §an identification of microorganisms by 16S rRNA gene §sequencing leads to higher resolution power compared §to conventional biochemical methods. In biopharmaceutical production areas the microbial §count should be kept to a minimum to ensure the §stability and cleanliness of drug products. In §general, the conventional API and VITEK methods are §used to characterize them. However, more and more §frequently, microbiologists isolate "difficult" §strains that such automated systems often fail to §identify. Those "difficult" strains are often found §in clean room areas, because the use of §disinfectants leads to a change in the metabolic §pattern and so the conventional methods provide §wrong results. The author, Sandra Tscherwizek, shows §an opportunity to identify such difficult strains §via a 16S rRNA gene sequencing method based on the §genetic level, and describes how to interpret the §outcome. Furthermore a cost-benefit calculation was §done to compare the conventional methods Vitek and §API with the sequencing method. The study shows that §an identification of microorganisms by 16S rRNA gene §sequencing leads to higher resolution power compared §to conventional biochemical methods.