A total of nineteen Staphylococcus references, nine of which are Staphylococcus aureus and ten coagulase-negative Staphylococci (CNS), were characterized by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). Whole-cell protein (WCP) profiles obtained by SDS-PAGE were compared with banding patterns produced by SDS-PAGE of total extracellular proteins (TEP). No report has yet been issued which explains Staphylococcus typing by SDS-PAGE of extracellular proteins. SDS-PAGE of whole-cell extracts did not usefully distinguish different isolates of Staphylococci. Our preliminary results suggest that SDS-PAGE of total extracellular proteins provides additional criteria and characteristic banding patterns for the study of the epidemiology and characterization of Staphylococci. SDS-PAGE of extracellular proteins provided a rapid, reproducible and discriminative method for characterization of Staphylococci which is easy to perform and interpret.

A total of nineteen Staphylococcus references, nine of which are Staphylococcus aureus and ten coagulase-negative Staphylococci (CNS), were characterized by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). Whole-cell protein (WCP) profiles obtained by SDS-PAGE were compared with banding patterns produced by SDS-PAGE of total extracellular proteins (TEP). No report has yet been issued which explains Staphylococcus typing by SDS-PAGE of extracellular proteins. SDS-PAGE of whole-cell extracts did not usefully distinguish different isolates of Staphylococci. Our preliminary results suggest that SDS-PAGE of total extracellular proteins provides additional criteria and characteristic banding patterns for the study of the epidemiology and characterization of Staphylococci. SDS-PAGE of extracellular proteins provided a rapid, reproducible and discriminative method for characterization of Staphylococci which is easy to perform and interpret.