DIFFERENTIATION OF HELICOBACTER SPECIES BY NUMERICAL-ANALYSIS OF THEIR ONE-DIMENSIONAL ELECTROPHORETIC PROTEIN-PATTERNS

The suitability of sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoretic protein profiles coupled to a computer-assisted numerical analysis for the differentiation of helicobacters was evaluated. Fifty-three strains representing most of the known and available species of Helicobacter and reference strains of allied taxa were included. The results indicate, (i) that the majority of the species examined by this technique could be clearly differentiated, including H. cinaedi and H. fennelliae, which can be difficult to separate by conventional bacteriological methods; two species, H. acinonyx and H. pylori constitute a single phenon at the 69% similarity level and cannot be distinguished at this level, (ii) that gastric helicobacters were more closely clustered to each other than they mere to those of enteric origin, (iii) that within several species, different electrophoretic types could be distinguished and that, in the case of the H. pylori/H. acinonyx complex, there appeared to be clustering based on the host source of the strains. Two minor groups (one of human and one of canine origin) were identified and these may merit further phylogenetic analysis. The suitability of sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoretic protein profiles coupled to a computer-assisted numerical analysis for the differentiation of helicobacters was evaluated. Fifty-three strains representing most of the known and available species of Helicobacter and reference strains of allied taxa were included. The results indicate, (i) that the majority of the species examined by this technique could be clearly differentiated, including H. cinaedi and H. fennelliae, which can be difficult to separate by conventional bacteriological methods; two species, H. acinonyx and H. pylori constitute a single phenon at the 69% similarity level and cannot be distinguished at this level, (ii) that gastric helicobacters were more closely clustered to each other than they mere to those of enteric origin, (iii) that within several species, different electrophoretic types could be distinguished and that, in the case of the H. pylori/H. acinonyx complex, there appeared to be clustering based on the host source of the strains. Two minor groups (one of human and one of canine origin) were identified and these may merit further phylogenetic analysis.