CLASSIFICATION OF MYCOBACTERIUM SIMIAE BY MEANS OF COMPARATIVE RECIPROCAL INTRADERMAL SENSITIN TESTING ON GUINEA‐PIGS AND DEOXYRIBONUCLEIC ACID HYBRIDIZATION

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Abstract
This study is a contribution to the elucidation of the taxonomic relationships among M. simiae serovars 1 and 2, other photochromogenic, mycobacterial species and the nonphotochromogenic species M. avium and M. intracellulare. DNA-DNA homology percentages and comparative reciprocal intradermal sensitin reactions in guinea pigs confirmed that M. habana is a subjective synonym of M. simiae serovar 1 and that M. asiaticum is a separate species. The 2 strains of M. simiae serovar 2 studied were distinct from each other and both were distinct from M. simiae serovar 1. M. simiae was so different from M. avium and even from M. intracellulare serovars 12, 14, 16 and 19 that there is no basis for including M. simiae in the so-called M. avium-intracellulare complex. M. simiae did not bear any close relation to the photochromogenic species M. kansasii and M. marinum. A fairly close negative correlation was observed between the DNA-DNA homology percentages and the specificity differences on the sensitins from the same pairs of strains. This is per se a proof of the veracity of the 2 taxonomic methods used in the study.

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