title: Sub-specific differentiation of intestinal spirochaete isolates by macrorestriction fragment profiling.
abstract: Macrorestriction fragment profile analysis by PFGE was used to distinguish intestinal spirochaetes, some of which were isolated from cases of swine dysentery and intestinal spirochaetosis in humans, pigs, mice, chickens and dogs. Macrorestriction fragment profiles using SmaI and SacII restriction enzymes were produced and used in statistical analysis. This permitted the division of the isolates into two major clusters. One cluster contained isolates which were identified as Serpulina pilosicoli and the second cluster contained isolates identified as Serpulina hyodysenteriae by immunoblotting with species-specific mAbs. Both species contained sub-specific groups, although these rarely correlated with the source of the isolates. We conclude that PFGE is capable of sub-specific differentiation of intestinal spirochaetes, but that the current species contain a large variety of genotypes among which cross-species transmission may be feasible.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical and Biological Sciences, Aston University, Aston Triangle, Birmingham B4 7ET, UK.
authors.forename: Sarah J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Rayment
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical and Biological Sciences, Aston University, Aston Triangle, Birmingham B4 7ET, UK.
authors.forename: M Anne
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Livesley
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, St Mary's Hospital Medical School, Norfolk Place, London W2 1PG, UK.
authors.forename: Stephen P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Barrett
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D001483:Base Sequence; D017400:Brachyspira / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D017401:Brachyspira hyodysenteriae / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004285:Dogs; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field / Q000379:methods*; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006801:Humans; D007422:Intestines / Q000382:microbiology; D051379:Mice; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial