Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel typing system for characterization of Neisseria meningitidis isolates

Thirty to fifty percent of group B and group C Neisseria meningitidis carrier isolates are not serotypable with existing outer membrane protein typing sera. A typing system based on differences in the outer membrane protein profiles after sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) was therefore developed as an adjunct to existing serotyping methods. Although most N. meningitidis strains contain several outer membrane proteins visible by SDS-PAGE, there are only one to three predominant proteins. The SDS-PAGE profiles of these major proteins were used to establish 10 different PAGE types. Greater than 95% of all meningococcal isolates, regardless of serogroup, fit into 1 of the 10 PAGE types. The outer membrane protein profile of individual strains after SDS-PAGE was constant when outer membrane fractions were prepared from the same strain on several different days. A comparison of gel profiles of meningococcal isolates obtained from different sites of the same patient revealed no significant differences among both major and minor proteins for isolate sets thus far examined. Characterization of strains by PAGE type can be a valuable epidemiological tool in addition to serotyping and in the absence of specific serotype antisera.