Comparative zone electrophoresis of esterases of Staphylococcus species isolated from mammalian skin.

The electrophoretic mobilities of non-specific esterases in vertical polyacrylamide slab gels were determined for 184 strains of staphylococci, representing a total of 18 proposed species and subspecies. Markedly uniform esterase patterns were seen within species demonstrating a high degree of human host specificity, while those species demonstrating a wide host range were polytypic and often showed considerable polymorphism. The unique banding patterns found in several species indicate that this technique may serve as a valuable aid to existing taxonomic schemes. Starch gel electrophoresis of representative strains usually produced sharper esterase bands than were found with polyacrylamide electrophoresis. However, the additional molecular-sieving effect produced by the polyacrylamide gels differentiated esterases to a greater extent.