Grouping of Pseudomonads by SDS-PAGE of Whole-cell Proteins

Abstract

Summary A numerical analysis was performed on one-dimensional whole-cell protein electrophoretic fingerprints of 210 bacterial reference strains of the pseudomonads. Within the authentic genus Pseudomonas, uniform and distinct patterns were found for strains of the species P. aeruginosa, P. agarici, P. alcaligenes, P. amygdali, P. caricapapayae, P. chlororaphis, P. cichorii, P. coronafaciens, P. corrugata, P. ficuserectae, P. fragi, P. mendocina, P. pertucinogena, P. tolaasii and P. viridif lava. A significant protein electrophoretic heterogeneity was observed within the species P. fluorescens, P. marginalis, P. pseudoalcaligenes, P. putida, P. stanieri and P. stutzeri. Only the type strain was included of the species P. lundensis, P. meliae, P. mucidolens, P. oleovorans, P. resinovorans, P. synxantha and P. taetrolens, and all of them occupied a separate position. Also the three investigated strains of the complex species P. syringae grouped together in a single cluster. Similar profiles were obtained for representatives of the species P. asplenii and P. fuscovaginae. Reference strains of a few species, previously classified in the genus Pseudomonas, and recently reclassified in the genera Acidovorax, Burkholderia, Brevundimonas, Comamonas, Hydrogenophaga and Ralstonia were included. The latter data demonstrated again that no genus-specific, but species-specific protein profiles were obtained. Twenty-nine fresh isolates from polluted sites, presumably belonging to the pseudomonads, were characterized using the SDS-PAGE database. These data demonstrated that the technique provides a useful tool for the identification of newly isolated strains.