Bacteroides heparinolyticus: Deoxyribonucleic Acid Relatedness of Strains from the Oral Cavity and Oral-Associated Disease Conditions of Horses, Cats, and Humans

Abstract

Fourteen strains of indole-positive bacteroides (eight from cats and six from humans), phenotypically similar to Bacteroides zoogleoformans, previously were shown to have only 45 to 49% deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) homology with the type strain of B. zoogleoformans, ATCC 33285, which is indole negative. These 14 strains and 7 strains isolated from horses have an average of 71% DNA homology with Bacteroides heparinolyticus ATCC 35895T, which also is indole positive. The seven strains from horses have an average of 71% DNA homology with the indole-positive strains from humans, an average of 86% DNA homology with the strains from cats, and an average of 42% DNA homology with B. zoogleoformans ATCC 33285T. These indole-positive strains from humans, cats, and horses were identified as B. heparinolyticus and could be distinguished from B. zoogleoformans by their production of indole.