Biochemical fingerprinting of Vibrio parahaemolyticus by the PhenePlate system: comparison between pandemic and non-pandemic serotypes

<jats:p>During recent years a pandemic clone of <jats:italic>Vibrio parahaemolyticus</jats:italic> has emerged. Isolates of this clone are distributed among several serotypes, but are genotypically related. In the present study, a phenotyping method (biochemical fingerprinting) was used to characterize pandemic and non-pandemic isolates belonging to <jats:italic>V. parahaemolyticus</jats:italic>. It was found that the pandemic isolates showed a high level of phenotypic homogeneity and a majority of the pandemic isolates belonged to the same biochemical phenotype, whereas non-pandemic <jats:italic>V. parahemolyticus</jats:italic> isolates were more heterogeneous. In conclusion, biochemical fingerprinting of <jats:italic>V. parahaemolyticus</jats:italic> can be used as a first screening method to differentiate between pandemic and non-pandemic isolates of <jats:italic>V. parahaemolyticus.</jats:italic></jats:p>