Ribotypering

Ribotypering is the process of typing microorganisms by analyzing patterns in their ribosomal RNA gene regions. The term is used informally and overlaps with ribotyping, a family of molecular typing methods that distinguish strains based on ribosomal RNA operon organization and sequence variation. Common targets are the 16S-23S rRNA intergenic regions and the rRNA operons themselves.

Ribotypering methods include RFLP-based ribotyping, which uses restriction enzymes to cut rRNA gene regions and produces a pattern of fragments, and PCR-based ribotyping, which amplifies rRNA operon segments to generate characteristic amplicon profiles that are compared against reference databases.

Applications are mainly in epidemiology and clinical microbiology, aiding outbreak investigation, surveillance, and tracking of transmission. Ribotyping has been used for organisms such as Clostridioides difficile, where standardized ribotype patterns help classify strains and monitor spread.

Limitations include variable discriminatory power across species, dependence on standardized references, and evolving laboratory practices toward higher-resolution genomic methods. Ribotypering remains a cost-effective, routine option in many laboratories and serves as a historical and complementary approach to genomic typing.