A PCR fingerprinting technique to distinguish isolates of Lactococcus lactis.

A fingerprinting technique similar to repetitive extragenic palindromic PCR was developed to identify strains of Lactococcus lactis. The method distinguishes closely related strains and discriminates among some with identical ldh sequences. The fingerprinting primer LL-Rep1 complements a moderately repeated sequence found in low G + C Gram-positive bacteria and may therefore prove useful for discriminating among strains of other low G + C Gram-positive species.