The Biochemical Identification of Vahlkampfiid Amoebae1

Abstract

Isoenzyme electrophoresis of 3 different enzymes was used to compare 16 strains of the vahlkampfiid amoebae and a strain identified as a slime mold. The strain designated as an Echinostelium sp. was an isolate of Naegleria fowleri on the basis of zymogram type and other characters, confirming Cursons and Brown''s similar conclusion drawn in 1975. The N. fowleri strains examined expressed the typical zymograms of the species. The N. gruberi strains in this study presented 2 distinctive groups of patterns that were different from the 2 previously reported types for N. gruberi. Each of the remaining species studied formed single distinctive groups by which they could be identified.