Zone electrophoresis of enzymes in bacterial taxonomy.

The electrophoretic mobilities in starch gels have been determined for eight enzymes in extracts of representative cultures of members of the family Enterobacteriaceae. These values were compared with each other and with those obtained from certain bacteria not in this family. The migrations of the eight enzymes were virtually identical for each of eight strains of Escherichia coli and for two species of Shigella. A number of these enzymes appeared to be identical in other organisms believed to be closely related to E. coli (Salmonella), and the number of differences increased in organisms which appeared to have lesser degrees of relatedness by other criteria (deoxyribonucleic acid base compositions, overall similarity).