A collection of 223 strains of non-typable Haemophilus influenzae was assembled. Most strains were isolated from hospital in-patients in North East Scotland between 1984 and 1989. These isolates were examined by sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) of whole cell polypeptides. Variability was assessed in terms of apparent molecular weight differences between the protein profiles. Isolates were grouped on the basis of Dice coefficients of similarity and assigned to clones. Of the 223 strains, 147 were unique; the remaining strains were assigned to multi-member clones of which 13 clones had two members, one clone had three members, three clones had four members, three clones had five members, two clones had six members and one clone had eight members. The longest time interval between isolation of clonally related strains virtually equalled the limits of the study. Isolates from a childrens hospital were significantly less diverse than those from patients in adult wards.
MurphyT. F.,
ApicellaM. A. Nontypable Haemophilus influenzae: a review of clinical aspects, surface antigens, and the human immune response to infection. Rev Infect Dis1987; 9:1–15
MusserJ. M.,
GranoffD. M.,
PattisonP. E.,
SelanderR. K. A population genetic framework for the study of invasive diseases caused by serotype b strains of Haemophilus influenzae. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA1985; 82:5078–5082
MusserJ. M.,
KrollJ. S.,
GranoffD. M. Global genetic structure and molecular epidemiology of encapsulated Haemophilus influenzae. Rev Infect Dis1990; 12:75–111
PorrasO.,
CaugantD. A.,
GrayB.,
LagergardT.,
LevinB. R.,
Svanborg-EdenC.
Difference in structure between type b and nontypable Haemophilus influenzae populations. Infect Immun1986; 53:79–89
MusserJ. M.,
BarenkampS. J.,
GranoffD. M.,
SelanderR. K. Genetic relationships of serologically nontypable and serotype b strains of Haemophilus influenzae. Infect Immun1986; 52:183–191
PenningtonT. H.,
FreebaimE. M. Subtyping of Haemophilus influenzae type b strains from Europe and North America by SDS-PAGE of whole-cell polypeptides:the geographical distribution of subtypes. Epidemiol Infect1989; 102:11–19
MurphyT. F.,
DudasK. C.,
MylotteJ. M.,
ApicellaM. A. A subtyping system for nontypable Haemophilus influenzae based on outer-membrane proteins. J Infect Dis1983; 147:838–846
MurphyT. F.,
BartosL. C. Purification and analysis with monoclonal antibodies of P2, the major outer membrane protein of nontypable Haemophilus influenzae. Infect Immun1988; 56:1084–1089
FisherR. A.,
CorbetA. S.,
WilliamsC. B. The relation between the number of species and the number of individuals in a random sample of an animal population. J Animal Ecology1943; 12:42–58
SpinolaS. M.,
PeacockJ.,
DennyF. W.,
SmithD. L.,
CannonJ. G. Epidemiology of colonization by nontypable Haemophilus influenzae in children: a longitudinal study. J Infect Dis1986; 154:100–109
LoebM. R.,
SmithD. H. Outer membrane protein composition in disease isolates of Haemophilus influenzae: pathogenic and epidemiological implications. Infect Immun1980; 30:709–717
PorrasO.,
CaugantD. A.,
LagergardT.,
Svanborg-EdenC.
Application of multilocus enzyme gel electrophoresis to Haemophilus influenzae. Infect Immun1986; 53:71–78
WeinbergG. A.,
GhafoorA.,
IshaqZ.
Clonal analysis of Haemophilus influenzae isolated from children from Pakistan with lower respiratory tract infections. J Infect Dis1989; 160:634–643
SelanderR. K.,
CaugantD. A.,
WhittamT. S. Genetic structure and variation in natural populations of Escherichia coli. In
NeidhartF. C.
(ed) Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimu-rium: cellular and molecular biology Washington DC: American Society for Microbiology; 19871625–1668
CaugantD. A.,
BovreK. Gaustad P et al., Multilocus genotypes determined by enzyme electrophoresis of Neisseria meningitidis isolated from patients with systemic disease and from healthy carriers. J Gen Microbiol1986; 132:641–652
Leigh-BrownA. J.,
LangleyC. H. Reevaluation of level of genic heterozygosity in natural population of Drosophila melano-gaster by two-dimensional electrophoresis. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA1979; 76:2381–2384
RowjiP.,
GromkovaR.,
KoomhofH. Genetic transformation in encapsulated clinical isolates of Haemophilus influenzae type b. J Gen Microbiol1989; 135:2775–2782
ZeiG.,
MatessiR. G.,
SiriE.,
MoroniA,
Cavalli-SforzaL.
Surnames in Sardinia I. Fit of frequency distributions for neutral alleles and genetic population structure. Ann Human Genet1983; 47:329–352
KarlinS.,
McGregorJ. The number of mutant forms maintained in a population. In
Le CamL. M.,
NeymanJ.
(eds) Proc Fifth Berkeley Symp Math Stat Prob Berkeley: University of California Press; 1967; 4415–438
ZeiG.,
PiazzaA.,
MoroniA,
Cavalli-SforzaL. L. Surnames in Sardinia III. The spatial distribution of surnames for testing neutrality of genes. Ann Hum Genet1986; 50:169–180