IDENTIFICATION AND INTRA-SPECIFIC HETEROGENEITY OF CAMPYLOBACTER-HYOINTESTINALIS BASED ON NUMERICAL-ANALYSIS OF ELECTROPHORETIC PROTEIN PROFILES

Sixty-six strains received as Campylobacter hyointestinalis, along wit h twelve type or reference strains of other Campylobacter species, wer e characterized using high-resolution one-dimensional sodium dodecyl s ulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The resulting protein patte rns were analyzed numerically, by computer, and revealed that when onl y background patterns were analyzed, 57 of the 66 strains formed a sin gle cluster which included the type strain of C. hyointestinalis, thus confirming their identity. This cluster could be divided into two sub -clusters (a and b) which could also be differentiated phenotypically. When the full patterns were analyzed, 17 electrophoretypes were recog nized among the 57 C. hyointestinalis strains. Evidence for the co-exi stence of strains of different protein types in the digestive tract of a single animal is presented.