De Smet K A, Worth D E, Barrett S P
Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, Imperial College School of Medicine at St Mary's, London, UK.
Int J Syst Bacteriol. 1998 Oct;48 Pt 4:1257-63. doi: 10.1099/00207713-48-4-1257.
Brachyspira pilosicoli (formerly Serpulina pilosicoli) causes swine spirochaetosis and can also be isolated fro human faeces, although its role in human disease remains unclear. The genetic and biochemical variations amongst 19 isolates of human spirochaetes from five different countries were evaluated and compared to those found amongst swine isolates of B. pilosicoli. All isolates were negative for beta-glucosidase and all but one were positive for hippurate hydrolysis, which are characteristics typical of B. pilosicoli. The isolates showed variation in indole production and alpha-galactosidase and alpha-glucosidase activity, other characteristics which can be used to identify B. pilosicoli. The DNA sequences of part of the 16S rRNA gene differed from each other and from that of B. pilosicoli by 0-3 bp out of 283 bp. It is concluded that there is considerable variation amongst human intestinal spirochaetes. Since few of the isolates reported here match the current criteria for B. pilosicoli, it is concluded that this species is more heterogeneous than previously appreciated. However, it cannot be excluded that some isolates may belong to uncharacterized related Brachyspira/Serpulina species.
短螺旋体（以前称为结肠螺旋体）可引起猪螺旋体病，也可从人类粪便中分离得到，尽管其在人类疾病中的作用尚不清楚。对来自五个不同国家的19株人类螺旋体分离株的遗传和生化变异进行了评估，并与猪源短螺旋体分离株的变异进行了比较。所有分离株β-葡萄糖苷酶均为阴性，除一株外其余所有分离株马尿酸盐水解均为阳性，这些都是短螺旋体的典型特征。分离株在吲哚产生、α-半乳糖苷酶和α-葡萄糖苷酶活性方面存在差异，这些也是可用于鉴定短螺旋体的其他特征。16S rRNA基因部分的DNA序列彼此不同，与短螺旋体的序列在283 bp中有0-3 bp的差异。结论是人类肠道螺旋体之间存在相当大的变异。由于这里报道的分离株很少符合目前短螺旋体的标准，因此得出结论，该物种比以前认为的更加异质。然而，不能排除一些分离株可能属于未鉴定的相关短螺旋体/螺旋体属物种。
