FATTY-ACID AND PROTEIN PROFILES OF STREPTOMYCES-SCABIES STRAINS ISOLATED IN EASTERN CANADA

Fatty acid composition was assessed for 31 pathogenic and nonpathogeni c strains phenotypically related to Streptomyces scabies and isolated in eastern Canada. The profiles of these strains consisted of 12 to 17 fatty acids, most of which were saturated iso and anteiso acids. The 31 strains were clustered into two groups within a Euclidian distance of 25. Members in the first group were characterized by the predominan ce in their profile of the 16:0 acid palmitate. The second group was s plit into two subgroups at a Euclidian distance of 12. The 15:0 anteis o acid was the predominant fatty acid in strains of the first subgroup . Three acids (15:0 iso, 15:0 anteiso, and 16:0), each representing ab out 20% of the total fatty acid profile, characterized strains of the second subgroup. The protein profiles of some of those strains were al so compared, and the genetic relatedness among the strains was estimat ed by DNA-DNA hybridization. Hybridization values suggested that two g enetically diverse groups of strains are included in S. scabies. No co rrelation was established between fatty acid profiles and genetic clus ters. No distinctive characteristics were associated with pathogenic s trains.