Pulsed Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE) basics

- used to determine relatedness among strains of the same species - gold standard for bacteria subtyping (fingerprinting) - primary subtyping method used by PulseNet 1. genomic DNA from isolated pathogen digested by one or more pathogens 2. digested DNA added to well in agarose gel 3. application of pulsed electric fields (pulse times ramped from 1 to 100 seconds over various time periods) 4. electrophoretic profile of the DNA sample is produced and used to fingerprint the foodborne outbreak strain