DISCRIMINATION OF HELICOBACTER-PULLORUM AND CAMPYLOBACTER-LARI BY ANALYSIS OF WHOLE-CELL FATTY-ACID EXTRACTS

Helicobacter pullorum and Campylobacter lari are rarely isolated From humans a with acute enteritis. Hitherto the two species could only be identified by genotypic techniques. Gas liquid chromatography of whole cell fatty acid extracts is described as the first phenotypic method for discrimination of the two species. Cholesteryl glucoside, a charac teristic feature of the genus Helicobacter, but seldom found in other bacteria, could not be detected in Helicobacter pullorum. Therefore, r apid determination of this glycolipid may serve as a discrimination ma rker for Helicobacter. pullorum from most other Helicobacter species. (C) 1998 Federation of European Microbiological Societies. Published b y Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.