Rapid classification ofBacillus isolates using RAPD technique

This paper describes the typing of selectedBacillus strains from environmental origin and ATCC type strains. The objective of the study was to evaluate the usefulness of PCR-fingerprinting using Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) as a method for classifying members of the genusbacillus. Our experiments show that the levels of similarity of 69%∼90%, 40%∼60% were observed between the members of the same species and among the species of genusBacillus, respectively. In a dendrogram showing the positions of 28 strains, these strains were clearly seperated into distinct species, 13 of which are corresponding to type strains used in this study. These results suggest that RAPD analyses is a simple and powerful method for species identification and delimitation. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China Yi Qingming: born in Apt. 1938, Professor