Ribotyping is a molecular technique for bacterial identification and characterization that uses information from rRNA-based phylogenetic analyses.
[1] It is a rapid and specific method widely used in clinical diagnostics and analysis of microbial communities in food, water, and beverages.
[1] All bacteria have ribosomal genes, but the exact sequence is unique to each species, serving as a genetic fingerprint.
[3] Those fragments are then run on a Gel electrophoresis, where they are separated according to size: the application of electrical field to the gel in which they are suspended causes the movement of DNA fragments (all negatively charged due to the presence of phosphate groups) through a matrix towards the positively charged end of the field.
Following the separation in the gel matrix, the DNA fragments are moved onto nylon membranes and hybridized with a labelled 16S or 23S rRNA probe.