Relatedness within the Family Pasteurellaceae as Determined by Genetic Transformation

Abstract

Genetic transformation studies were used to determine relatedness within the family Pasteurellaceae. Among strains with < 60% relatedness to Haemophilus influenzae based on deoxyribonucleic acid hybridization, two groups were identified; one, showing competition for homospecific transformation with H. influenzae, contained Haemophilus parainfluenzae, Haemophilus parasuis, Haemophilus aphrophilus, Haemophilus paraphrophilus, Pasteurella pneumotropica, Pasteurella multocida, and Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans, and the other, showing little or no competition for homospecific transformation with H. influenzae, contained Haemophilus ducreyi, Haemophilus parahaemolyticus, Actinobacillus lignieresii, Actinobacillus equuli, Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae, and Pasteurella ureae. Such groupings support existing studies which have used only deoxyribonucleic acid hybridization or numerical analysis.