Discrimination of Arcobacter butzleri isolates by polymerase chain reaction-mediated DNA fingerprinting H.I. Atabay 1 , D.D. Bang 2 , F. Aydin 3 , H.M. Erdogan 4 and M. Madsen 2 1 Department of Microbiology, Veterinary Faculty, Kafkas University, Kars, Turkey, 2 Department of Poultry, Fish and Fur Animals, Danish Veterinary Laboratory, Aarhus, Denmark, 3 Department of Microbiology, Veterinary Faculty, Erciyes University, Kayseri, Turkey and 4 Department of Internal Medicine, Veterinary Faculty, Kafkas University, Kars, Turkey 328/01: received 16 November 2001, revised 8 April 2002 and accepted 15 April 2002 H.I. ATABAY, D.D. BANG, F. AYDIN, H.M. ERDOGAN AND M. MADSEN. 2002. Aims: The objective of this study was to subtype Arcobacter butzleri isolates using RAPD- PCR. Methods and Results: Thirty-five A. butzleri isolates obtained from chicken carcasses were examined. PCR-mediated DNA fingerprinting technique with primers of the variable sequence motifs was used to detect polymorphism within the isolates. Eleven distinct DNA profiles were obtained as follows: Of the 35 strains, 10 as profile 4; seven as profile 1; five as profile 3; three as profiles 2 and 9; two as profile 10; one as profiles 5, 6, 7, 8 and 11. Conclusions: Chicken carcasses sold in markets were found to be contaminated with several different strains of A. butzleri. RAPD-PCR technique was found to be a useful technique for distinguishing A. butzleri isolates. Significance and Impact of the Study: The presence of several different A. butzleri strains on chicken carcasses may indicate multiple sources of contamination. The epidemiological role of A. butzleri in human and animal diseases should be investigated further. INTRODUCTION At present the genus Arcobacter includes four species: Arcobacter butzleri, A. cryaerophilus (with two subgroups), A. skirrowii and A. nitrofigilis (Vandamme et al. 1992a). Apart from A. nitrofigilis, the other species of Arcobacter have been isolated from various human and animal diseases including abortion, septicaemia, mastitis, gastritis and enteritis (Vandamme et al. 1992a; Skirrow 1994; Lastovica and Skirrow 2000). Arcobacters, like campylobacters, seem to be more prevalent in poultry meat than in red meat (Lammerding et al. 1996; Manke et al. 1998; Gonza ´lez et al. 2000; Corry and Atabay 2001). Arcobacter isolates obtained from poultry and poultry products have generally been identified as A. butzleri, but A. cryaerophilus and A. skirrowii have also been isolated from poultry (Atabay and Corry 1997; Atabay et al. 1998; Ridsdale et al. 1998). Thus, poultry may be a significant reservoir of Arcobacter spp. Arcobacter spp. have also been isolated from water (Rice et al. 1999) and from the intestine of healthy dairy cattle (Wesley et al. 2000). However, the epidemiology of Arco- bacter spp. is not fully understood. The first evi- dence suggesting an epidemiological relationship between A. butzleri and human disease was derived from a study of an outbreak of recurrent abdominal cramps occurring in a nursery and primary school in Italy (Vandamme et al. 1992b). DNA fingerprints of these outbreak-related strains of A. butzleri were found to be identical (Vandamme et al. 1993). Most of the strains isolated from human diseases have been identified as A. butzleri of the same serogroup (serogroup 1). The serogroup 1 has been isolated from both poultry and human infections (Wesley 1997), which may indicate a possible transmission from poultry to humans. Arcobacters, like campylobacters, are to a large extent biochemically inactive, and therefore many tests are needed for species identification and differentiation (On et al. 1996; Atabay et al. 1998). However, even with the application of these tests the identification and differen- tiation of Arcobacter spp. are still inadequate for proper Correspondence to: Dr Halil Ibrahim Atabay, Department of Microbiology, Veterinary Faculty, Kafkas University, 36040, Kars, Turkey (e-mail: hiatabay@hotmail.com). Ó 2002 The Society for Applied Microbiology Letters in Applied Microbiology 2002, 35, 141–145