Genetic relationships between isolates of Serpulina (Treponema) hyodysenteriae, and comparison of methods for their subspecific differentiation.

Multilocus enzyme electrophoresis (MEE) was used to examine the extent of genetic diversity amongst 98 isolates of Serpulina (Treponema) hyodysenteriae. The species contained four major genetic divisions (A, B, C and D) and 29 electrophoretic types (ETs). Division D was relatively distinct, being separated from the other three divisions by fixed allelic differences at an average of 6.6 of 15 enzyme loci. Electrophoretic differences were compared with results of DNA restriction endonuclease analysis (REA) and serological typing of the isolates. Most isolates with the same or similar REA banding patterns shared the same or similar ETs. This demonstrated that both techniques could be used as sensitive and specific methods of identifying closely related isolates. However, using MEE analysis, some isolates that had quite different REA patterns were found to be genetically closely related. Therefore ET designations had an advantage over REA patterns in that they were readily quantifiable as a means of estimating genetic relatedness between isolates. Most isolates that were genetically similar to each other were of the same serological group, but some antigenic types were widely distributed across the genetic divisions.