But a new method for identifying and classifying bacteria by imaging the radioisotope distribution has been developed by the Department of Reproductive Physiology at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical College in London.
A team headed by Robert Silman was investigating the translation of mRNA labeled with 35S while researching the ACTH peptide hormones of the pituitary gland. They were identifying the translation products by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and autoradiography, when on one occasion they unknowingly laced their samples with bacteria. Many unexpected bands, resembling the bar codes on supermarket merchandise, appeared in the autoradiograph.
With help from the Department of Medical Microbiology at St. Bartholomew’s, the team learned that the band patterns were specific to individual strains of bacteria. Within a few weeks it became clear that the accidental contamination had spawned a technique capable of discriminating between organisms with a rare degree of sophistication.
Silman’s group then constructed a database ...
