Which taxonomic tool would scientists use if they wanted to determine if an outbreak of food poisoning was caused by a particular strain of a pathogen?
A) fluorescence in situ hybridization
B) DNA-DNA hybridization
C) multilocus sequence typing
D) fatty acid methyl ester analysis

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) is a taxonomic tool used to identify and classify microorganisms based on the nucleotide sequences of several housekeeping genes. MLST can be used to determine if an outbreak of food poisoning was caused by a particular strain of a pathogen by comparing the DNA sequences of the pathogen isolated from different patients. By doing so, scientists can determine the relatedness of the pathogens and identify the source of the outbreak.

Which Taxonomic Tool Would Scientists Use If They Wanted to Determine