DNA base composition and Adansonian analysis of mycobacteria.

Abstract

The contents of guanine and cytosine (GC) in DNA were determined in 20 strains of rapidly growing mycobacteria, 18 of which were originally classified as 8 different species and 2 were not defined. The values of GC expressed in molar percentage varied between 63.3 and 67.9 and agreed generally, as well as individually in the various species, with data reported in the literature for the genusMycobacterium (60.8–73.0% GC). In addition to the determination of GC in DNA, 20 mycobacteria were tested for various physiological and biochemical characteristics (a total of 82 characters were processed). Adansonian analysis was applied to establish similarity between individual pairs of microorganisms as to their phenotypic expression. All the mycobacteria used were divided into 6 groups (group 2 was subdivided into 3 sub-groups) of phylogenetically related organisms with a high percentage of similarity (S≤70%) and with great similarity in the GC content in DNA (±1% GC).