Abstract

Olorunfemi, O.B.*, Onasanya, A.A. and Adetuyi, F.C.

A genetic characterization of 18 different isolates of Staphylococcus aureus using random amplified polymorphic DNAs (RAPDs) was carried out. Out of one hundred primers tested, ten showed polymorphism. The amplification reactions with the 10 primers generated 88 bands, 51 of which is polymorphic with band size ranging between 200 and 3,000 bp. Variation and relatedness between different isolates were determined by converting RAPD data into a Jaccard similarity matrix and analysed by UPGMA (unweighted pair-group method, arithmetic average) to produce completely twelve different groups at 100% Jaccard similarity and at 50% coefficient of similarity. The isolates were classified into two major groups, the first comprises of mildly and weakly virulence, while the other group are the highly virulence Staphylococci. The results demonstrated that the RAPD technique may be of great use in the classification of S. aureus.