Protein fingerprinting as a complementary tool for the classification of Pseudomonas bacteria.

A collection of total 42 bacterial strains belonging to the genus Pseudomonas were characterised based on protein fingerprinting using sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoregrams of cell-free extracts. Densitometrical analysis revealed unique and distinct profiles characteristic of the studied species. This comparison differentiated the isolates into four main clusters and twelve subclusters. The obtained protein patterns have proved to be an effective and reliable method both for the classification of bacteria and for showing similarities and variability among them.