Multiple locus VNTR fingerprinting (MLVF) of Streptococcus pyogenes

Streptococcus pyogenes (GAS) is a human pathogen that causes millions of infections worldwide. Comparison between GAS strains isolated in different laboratories all over the world is often difficult. Three usually used methods have either low resolution (emm typing), are expensive (MLST) or time- and labor-consuming (PFGE). Our laboratory recently developed new, inexpensive methods of GAS typing—VF (virulence factor profiling) and PP (phage profiling). To improve the typing scheme developed for GAS, we recently proposed a new typing method. Here we present detailed protocol for MLVF analysis.