Deoxyribonucleic acid restriction digest patterns in Campylobacter species: a comparison with Penner serotype

Diversity, based on restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis, was studied in 48 strains of Campylobacter, comprising 27 chicken and 21 human strains of C. jejuni and C. coli, using genomic Southern hybridisation. Restriction digests of chromosomal DNA were prepared by treating with HaeIII and probed using a C. jejuni DNA probe. Nineteen distinct hybridisation patterns were identified, and differences in hybridisation pattern between members of the two species, and in individual strains of the same species, were seen. The method described proved more discriminatory than the Penner serotype, as strains from the same serotype were distinguished. The relative simplicity of the patterns obtained, together with the apparent diversity identified among individual strains and species, suggests that DNA fingerprinting using the C. jejuni DNA probe could be a useful identification method in epidemiological studies of Campylobacter infection in Nigeria.