Genetic fingerprint and diversity evaluation of halophilic Bacillus species by RAPD-PCR

Abstract

Random amplifi ed polymorphic DNA-PCR (RAPD-PCR) is a technique successfully used to generate characteristic fi ngerprints of different bacteria. Bacillus is a genus that includes heterogeneous species, thus a combination of different techniques is essential for their identifi cation. Here we used RAPD-PCR methodology to distinguish among genetically similar strains and to evaluate the genetic diversity of Bacillus species from the Salar del Hombre Muerto, in the Northwest of Argentina.The RAPD-PCR used allowed obtaining different amplifi cation profi les for each Bacillus species and strains. By comparing the fi ngerprint profi les, we could observe that some of the salt fl at isolates showed similar profi les than identifi ed strains. As expected, the bacilli group isolated revealed a wide heterogeneity. RAPD-PCR was found to be a quick and reliable technique to evaluate the diversity of Bacillus strain and was successfully applied to characterize the genetic diversity present in the Salar del Hombre Muerto.