CYTOCHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF MEMBERS OF THE GENUS FUSOBACTERIUM BY CELLULAR CARBOHYDRATE FINGERPRINTS AND SELECTED PHENOTYPIC FEATURES

Members of the genus Fusobacterium are associated with several human d iseases especially with periodontitis and gingivitis. Unfortunately, m ost of the current identification methods are insufficient for the cor rect identification of all the species in the genus, which makes it di fficult to determine the etiological role of these bacteria in periodo ntal diseases. Chemotaxonomical markers for precise species descriptio n are still missing. The aim of our study was to investigate the appli cability of cellular carbohydrate analysis for chemotaxonomic and diag nostic purposes. Forty strains of Fusobacterium and one strain of Euba cterium plauti (formerly Fusobacterium plauti), as well as five strain s of Bacteroides fragilis isolated from humans and animals were charac terized by cytochemical features. The cellular carbohydrate profiles e stablished by gas-liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry of the p eracetylated aldononitriles and peracetylated methyloximes exhibited c haracteristic patterns suitable for the differentiation of four major groups within the genus. For further differentiation on the species le vel we used selected reactions of commercial test systems (API-ZYM and Rapid ID-32A) beside the carbohydrate analysis. Thus, we propose the use of cellular carbohydrate profiles in combination with selected phe notypic features for the identification of fusobacteria. (C) 1996 Acad emic Press