Applications of restriction endonuclease fingerprinting of chromosomal DNA of Neisseria meningitidis.

Restriction endonucleases are bacterial enzymes that cleave DNA at specific sites. The resulting DNA fragments may be separated electrophoretically in gel to form specific restriction patterns. In the present study, the restriction endonuclease method was successfully adapted to the analysis of the chromosomal DNA of Neisseria meningitidis. The endonucleases HindIII and EcoRI provided optimal restriction patterns of ca. 50 well-separated lines. The pattern of each bacterial isolate was characteristic, stable, and reproducible. Despite some general similarity, the restriction patterns of the closely related B15 meningococci were surprisingly heterogeneous.