CHARACTERIZATION OF SERPULINA-HYODYSENTERIAE ISOLATES OF SEROTYPE-8 AND SEROTYPE-9 FROM QUEBEC BY RESTRICTION-ENDONUCLEASE FINGERPRINTING AND RIBOTYPING

This study was undertaken to assess the discriminatory value of restriction endonuclease fingerprinting (REF) analysis and ribotyping of 21 Serpulina hyodysenteriae isolates of serotypes 8 and 9. For REF analysis, DNAs were digested with the BglII restriction enzyme and the resultant fragments were separated by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. For ribotyping, hybridization of BglII genomic fragments with a probe of rrnB operon using an Escherichia coli rDNA probe was performed on all isolates. Although many isolates shared a common pattern by BglII REF and BglII ribotyping analysis, differences among some S. hyodysenteriae isolates were observed. REF and ribotyping using BglII restriction enzyme, were not specific for serotypes. The predominance of an REF and a ribotype pattern among S. hyodysenteriae isolates from Quebec suggested that epidemiologically important S. hyodysenteriae types occur in different swine herds.