FAFLP profiles of the 50 isolates in the study consisted of 46–102 fragments ranging in size from 50 to 600 bp. The profiles of each of the individual working cultures submitted by the eight participating laboratories were compared with the corresponding reference strain profiles

obtained from NCTC (Fig. 1). A total of 10 distinct FAFLP profiles were exhibited among the 50 isolates in this study. Arbitrary numbers, P1–P10, were assigned to the different find more FAFLP profiles, depending on the number of AF differences (Tables 1 and 2). Profiles differing by one or two AFs were designated with an ‘a’ after the corresponding profile number, for example P1a exhibited 1 AF difference from profile P1. AF differences of more than or equal to three were assigned a unique profile number. The FAFLP profiles of the eight working cultures of both S. Nottingham and B. cereus were compared GSK2118436 molecular weight with the profile of the corresponding reference strain. Two FAFLP profiles were exhibited among the nine S. Nottingham isolates, and the profiles consisted of 46–47 AFs. Six of the eight working cultures analysed had a profile identical to that of the reference strain NCTC 7832, P1. The remaining two isolates from Laboratory #7 and #8 shared

an identical profile, P1a, which differed from the reference profile by 1 AF (Table 1). The difference of 1 AF suggests that the isolates are similar to the reference strain, but not identical. The FAFLP profile of the nine B. cereus isolates consisted of a total of 84 AFs. All the eight isolates submitted by the different laboratories had a profile identical to the reference strain profile, P9 (Table 1). No detectable genetic changes were observed within

the B. cereus panel of isolates by FAFLP. The genetic profiles of the L. monocytogenes isolates submitted by the eight laboratories were compared with the corresponding reference strain profile (P2) obtained by FAFLP analysis. Eight of these isolates consisted of working cultures from each of the eight participating laboratories. In addition, Laboratory #5 submitted an additional working culture for testing from their reference stock prepared on cryoprotective beads. Laboratory #5 identified that the working culture of L. monocytogenes was, on both occasions, prepared from a LENTICULE disc purchased from the HPA’s Culture Collection (Table 2). A further five LENTICULE discs MYO10 from various LENTICULE disc batches were subcultured and analysed by FAFLP (Table 2). The profile of the L. monocytogenes isolates examined in this study comprised of 57–81 AFs. Thirteen of the 14 isolates exhibited an FAFLP profile which was identical to the reference strain profile, P2. The profile of the remaining isolate, submitted as the first working culture by Laboratory #5, differed from that of the reference strain by 24 AFs (profile P3, Table 1). A total of 21 isolates of S. aureus were examined by FAFLP, including the reference strain NCTC 6571.