Use of electrophoretic polymorphisms of esterases for differentiation of Clostridium argentinense strains.

Esterase electrophoresis was used to study 10 strains of Clostridium argentinense, including 7 toxigenic and 3 nontoxigenic strains. On the basis of the electrophoretic mobilities and hydrolytic specificities toward five synthetic substrates, different esterase profiles could be defined for almost all strains, revealing the heterogeneity of bacterial clones. Therefore, electrophoretic polymorphism of esterases can be used for differentiation of C. argentinense in population genetic or epidemiological studies.