Enzyme polymorphism in Trichinella

The isoenzyme profiles of five isolates of the supposed ‘species’ of Trichinella, T. nativa, T. spiralis and T. nelsoni were compared. Four enzymes (AK, PGM, MPI and GPI) gave good resolution and clearly differentiated T. spiralis from the other two species. T. nativa and T. nelsoni had similar isoenzyme patterns; the two separate isolates of T. nativa and T. spiralis used gave similar results, thus indicating the validity and the reproducibility of the technique. The value of enzyme electrophoresis for specific and subspecific classification of Trichinella is discussed and compared with the more traditional methods of taxonomy which have failed to resolve the controversy surrounding speciation.