Multilocus enzyme electrophoresis of Clostridium argentinense (Clostridium botulinum toxin type G) and phenotypically similar asaccharolytic clostridia.

Twenty-three strains of Clostridium argentinense, C. subterminale, C. hastiforme, and other phenotypically similar asaccharolytic clostridia recently placed in seven DNA hybridization groups were compared by multilocus enzyme electrophoresis. The three nontoxigenic strains of C. argentinense were most closely related to the toxigenic strains of this species. All nine toxigenic strains of C. argentinense belonging to a single DNA hybridization group had identical enzyme types on the basis of nine enzymes. All other strains except for two derived from the type strain of C. subterminale were differentiable. Overall, there was excellent agreement between DNA relatedness and multilocus enzyme electrophoresis results.