Short communication The prevalence of Arcobacter spp. on chicken carcasses sold in retail markets in Turkey, and identification of the isolates using SDS-PAGE H. Ibrahim Atabay a, * , Fuat Aydin b , Kurt Houf c , Mitat Sahin a , Peter Vandamme d a Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Kafkas University, Kars, Turkey b Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Erciyes University, Kayseri, Turkey c Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium d Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium Received 26 October 2001; accepted 21 April 2002 Abstract In this study, the prevalence of Arcobacter spp. on chicken carcasses sold in various retail markets in Turkey was investigated. The isolates were characterized and identified using various phenotypic and molecular tests. The membrane filtration technique employing 0.45-Am pore size membrane filters laid onto a nonselective blood agar was used after enrichment in Oxoid Arcobacter Enrichment Broth (AEB) to examine a total of 75 chicken carcasses (44 fresh and 31 frozen). Species level identification was performed using SDS-PAGE of whole-cell proteins and a recently developed multiplex-PCR assay. All isolates were identified as Arcobacter butzleri. Of the 44 fresh chicken carcasses examined, 42 (95%) were positive for A. butzleri. A. butzleri was also recovered from seven (23%) of the 31 frozen carcasses examined. D 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Arcobacter; Multiplex-PCR; SDS-PAGE; Poultry 1. Introduction Arcobacter species, first referred to as ‘aerotolerant campylobacters’ (Neill et al., 1979, 1985), are differ- entiated from Campylobacter spp. by their ability to grow at temperatures between 15 and 30 jC and by aerotolerance, although a microaerobic condition is required for primary isolation (Vandamme et al., 1991, 1992a). The genus, Arcobacter, which belongs to the rRNA superfamily VI of the Proteobacteria, currently includes four species: Arcobacter butzleri, Arcobacter cryaerophilus (with two subgroups), Arcobacter skir- rowii, and Arcobacter nitrofigilis (Vandamme et al., 1992a). Arcobacters were first isolated from aborted bovine foetuses and later from porcine foetuses (Ellis et al., 1977, 1978). Except for A. nitrofigilis, a nitro- gen-fixing bacterium associated with roots of Spartina alterniflora, a salt marsh plant (McClung and Patri- quin, 1980; McClung et al., 1983), the other three 0168-1605/02/$ - see front matter D 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII:S0168-1605(02)00163-0 * Corresponding author. Current address: Danish Veterinary Laboratory, Department of Poultry, Fish and Fur Animals, Hangoevej 2, DK-8200, Aarhus N, Denmark. Tel.: +45-89-37-24- 78; fax: +45-89-37-24-70. E-mail address: hiatabay@hotmail.com (H.I. Atabay). www.elsevier.com/locate/ijfoodmicro International Journal of Food Microbiology 81 (2003) 21 – 28