Identification of Campylobacter species isolates with phenotypic methods and polymerase chain reaction.
BACKGROUND
Campylobacter jejuni (C. jejuni) and Campylobacter coli (C. coli) are the most common bacterial causes of enterocolitis in humans. However, identification of the species level is not always possible using standard biochemical tests.


OBJECTIVE
Therefore, the goal of this study was to identify these microorganisms by both phenotyping and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique.


METHODS
A total of 153 species of thermophilic campylobacters were examined with standard biochemical tests and PCR technique to prove hipO genes of C. jejuni and asp genes of C. coli.


RESULTS
Standard biochemical tests enabled the speciation of 121 strains of C. jejuni, while application of PCR detected 126 C. jejuni strains.


CONCLUSIONS
PCR technique allowed not only identification of hippurate-positive C. jejuni, but also hipurat-negative strains of C. jejuni which otherwise would be detected as C. coli if only biochemical tests were applied.
Biljana
B
Miljković-Selimović
Tatjana
T
Babić
Branislava
B
Kocić
Aleksandra
A
Matkić
Ljiljana
L
Ristić
D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D002167:Campylobacter / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D002169:Campylobacter Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000382:microbiology; D004760:Enterocolitis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000382:microbiology; D006801:Humans; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction