What is ribotyping - (Sep/17/2005 )

hi!
I would like to know, if anyone can help me by telling what is ribotyping,its principle,procedure and applications or give a site that gives a detail notes on ribotyping by covering the above required information .

thanks in advance

try google for such informations...

here is a quick answer :
Differentiate between human and animal sources of contamination with ribotyping.
After cultivating E. coli from the submitted sample, one or more E. coli isolates are selected. Isolates are clusters of E. coli colonies on an agar plate. A DNA fingerprinting analysis called ribotyping is performed on each E. coli isolate selected. This genetic fingerprint comes from genes that code for ribosomal ribonucleic acids (rRNA) of E. coli. Ribosomal RNA together with various proteins makes up the cell structure called a ribosome.

The ribosome is the cell structure where proteins are manufactured. In order to produce proteins, the messenger RNA and the amino acids are transferred to the ribosome. As the ribosome moves down the messenger RNA, it places the correct amino acid in the growing protein. It has been shown that looking at small differences in the DNA that code for these 16S and 23S rRNA’s help identify different strains of E. coli.

Ribosomal genes are also known to be highly conserved in microbes, meaning that the genetic information coding for rRNA will vary much less within bacteria of the same strain than it will between bacterial strains. This characteristic allows for a greater ability to distinguish between different bacterial strains.

In ribotyping, restriction enzymes are used to cut the genes coding for rRNA into pieces, and electrophoresis separates the pieces by size through a gel.2,4 Genetic probes then visualize locations of different-size fragments of DNA in the gel, which appear as bands. The banding pattern of DNA fragments corresponding to the relevant rRNA is known as the ribotype. The banding patterns are compared to a database of other E. coli strains and matched for each determined strain. If the client submits fecal samples, then banding patterns are also investigated between the tested samples and blind samples submitted.

thanks alot fred.