ERIC-PCR analysis of bacterial isolates from bacteremic patients.

<p>Isolates are labeled by patient number followed by “B” for blood isolates and “U” for urine isolates. (A) Dendrogram analysis of bacterial isolates from bacteremic patients. Bacterial isolates from bacteremic patients were characterized by ERIC-PCR using DiversiLab software to assess strain relatedness. Dendrogram analysis revealed marked genetic similarities between blood and urine isolates of the same patients with clustering to the same sub-branches or nodes. However, bacterial isolates expressing curli at 37°C (highlighted in yellow) were distributed widely across multiple ERIC groups. (B) Inter- and intra-patient isolate genetic similarity matrix. A genetic similarity matrix based on ERIC-PCR banding patterns was generated for bacterial isolates from bacteremic patients. The data in the dendrogram in (A) is lined up with that in the similarity matrix (B) according to the isolates. With the exception of isolates from patient 12, intra-patient urinary and blood isolate similarities exceed 90%. Isolate similarity between patients was lower, with only a small cluster of isolates from 5 patients sharing over 95% similarity. As with the dendrogram, isolates expressing curli at 37°C (highlighted in yellow) were dispersed throughout the matrix.