SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) of whole-cell preparations of Campylobacter jejuni was performed to find whether the profiles obtained by silver staining could be used for bacterial epidemiological analysis of outbreaks of enteritis cases due to C. jejuni.
The electrophoretic profiles of C. jejuni isolated from sporadic cases could be differentiated from one another by analyzing both major and minor bands, especially the molecular weight ranging close to 43, 000 daltons, not stained by silver staining, was most valuable.
Two C. jejuni isolates from a particular domestic case showed identical profiles. In six cases of nine outbreaks examined, SDS-PAGE profiles correlated well with other epidemiological markers such as serotyping and antibiotic resistance. In two cases, the isolates showed two different profiles and serogroups, but only one antibiotic resistance pattern. In one case, the isolates showed three different profiles, but two different serogroups and two different antibiotic patterns.
These results suggest that the SDS-PAGE profile serves as a useful epidemiological marker for studying outbreaks of C. jejuni enteritis and might subdivide C. jejuni strains belonging to the same serogroup into several groups.
