The Suitability of Starch-Gel Electrophoresis of Esterases and Acid- Phosphatases for the Study of Acanthamoeba Taxonomy

Abstract

Summary The esterases and acid -phosphatases of 32 strains of Acanthamoeba were compared using the technique of starch-gel electrophoresis.The enzyme mobility patterns allowed an arrangement of the strains in twelve clearly distinguishable groups.The enzyme patterns were found to be consistent and stable with no variation occurring during logarithmic growth in batch culture.Strains which had originated from the same isolate gave similar patterns even though they had been maintained separately for as much as twenty years. Many of the strains which had been assigned to the same species using morphological criteria showed different enzyme patterns.The species A.castellanii, which was represented by seven strains, could be assigned to four groups on the basis of their enzyme patterns.Similarly, the four strains of A.polyphaga also exhibited four distinct enzyme patterns.Two of the enzyme groups consisted of strains from more than one morphological species. These results suggest that the morphological criteria which have been used to classify Acanthamoeba are not adequate for resolving taxa at the species level.