Pulsed Field Gel Electrophoresis for Bifidobacterium

• DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-2599-5_20
• Publication Date: 2015-04-11T00:10:14Z
• Authors: Esther Jiménez; Marta Gómez; Laura Moles
• Keywords: DNA, Bacterial; Bifidobacterium; Bacterial Typing Techniques; Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field

Pulse Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE), unlike conventional electrophoresis, can resolve DNA fragments greater than 30 kb and is a highly discriminatory molecular typing method. Here we describe a PFGE protocol for bifidobacteria characterized by a short lysis time determined by the addition of lysis reagents to the initial cell suspension, a reduced incubation period of the plugs in proteinase K, and an improved washing plug step with preheating of the buffer in a shaking incubator.