Major metalloprotease gene of Serratia marcescens is conserved and provides a molecular typing method to differentiate clinical isolates

The occurrence and heterogeneity of the 51-kDa major metalloprotease gene from Serratia marcescens which is thought to be involved in pathogenesis was examined using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and restriction endonuclease analysis (REA). Ten clinical isolates of S. marcescens associated with a previously characterized outbreak and 80 epidemiologically unrelated isolates were investigated. In all isolates, a 1.5-kbp DNA fragment was …