Objective: To analyze the ribotyping fingerprint of Enterobacter sakazakii (E. sakazakii) isolated from food and its typing power.
Methods: Two standard strains and twenty-eight isolates of E.sakazakii were analyzed by the DuPont Riboprinter(TM) microbial characterization system. The relevant database was established and the fingerprint patterns were analyzed with BioNumerics software.
Results: This system grouped two standard strains and twenty-eight E.sakazakii isolates into 26 ribotypes, and four ribotypes included two strains respectively, the other twenty-two strains showed different ribotypes. The lowest similarity was 31.58%. The number of bands by ribotyping was approximately ten and the molecular weight of these bands ranged from 1 to 50 kb. By the clustering program in BioNumerics, these isolates could be grouped into four clusters.
Conclusion: The automatic ribotyping method is convenient and fast in E.sakazakii typing.