RAPD is a PCR based typing method. DNA is amplified by PCR from the target organism at relatively low stringency using one or more short primers . This results in the amplification of a number of ”random” fragments. The amplified fragments are separated by agarose gel electrophoresis and patterns hare compared.

Lane 1 is a molecular size marker. Lanes 2 to 9 are RAPD patterns of strains that were typed. The strains in lanes 2 and 3 have an identical pattern and the strain in lanes 4 and 5 have show the same pattern, which is almost identical to the pattern in lanes 2 and 3.