nitrofigilis 5             16S 100 0             A. halophilus 1             16S 100 0             (A) targeted genes, (B) percentage of correctly identified strains of the targeted species, and (C) number see more of non-targeted species misidentified as targeted ones. aAll strains were identified using the RFLP method of Figueras et al. [19] specifically designed to recognize all species. bThe method designed

by De Smet et al.[17] only detects or identifies A. trophiarum, and was intended to complement the m-PCR of Douidah et al.[9]. Therefore, they are grouped together as a single method. cThe strains of the nine Arcobacter species not listed in this table (n=28) belong to new species that were not targeted by the compared methods. dThe method was designed to differentiate subgroups 1A and 1B of this species, but not all strains of these subgroups were well Trichostatin A order recognized (Table 2). eDespite the eight strains of A. cibarius being correctly assigned to this species, none of them was considered to be correctly identified. This is because they were all confused with A. butzleri, and three of them with A. skirrowii, when using primers that targeted those species (Table 2). Table 2 Identification results obtained for 95 strains of 17 Arcobacter spp. when using the five different PCR identification methods

Species Strainsa Houf et al. [[14]] Kabeya et al. [[15]] Figueras et al. [[18]]b Pentimalli Ku-0059436 cost et al. [[16]] Douidah et al. [[9]] De Smet et al. [[17]]c A. cryaerophilus (Acr) 19 19 Acr 19 Acr 12 Acr 19 Acr 19 Acr 7 Ab Acr1A (n=6)     5 Acr1Ad 6 Acry1Ad     1 Acr1B Acr1B (n=6)     5 Acr1B 6 Acry1B     1 Acr1A A. skirrowii (Aski) 5 5 Aski 5 Aski 5 Aski 3 Askid,g 5 Aski 2 NA A. nitrofigilis (Anit) 5 5 Aski 4 Acr1Bd 5 Anit 2 Ab NA 1 Ab + Acr1B 2 Acr 3 NA*d A. halophilus (Ahalo)

1 1 Aski + Acr 1 Aski 1 Ahalo NA* NA A. cibarius (Acib) 8 8 NA 3 Askid 8 Acib 8 Ab 8 Acib 5 Aski + Acr1B 8 Acib 3 Aski A. thereius (Ather) 5 5 Acr 1 Ab 5 Ab 5 NA* 5 Ather 2 Ab + Acr1Bd 1 Acr1B 1 NA A. mytili (Amyt) 3 3 Aski 3 Aski 3 Amyt 3 NA* 3 NA Phospholipase D1 A. marinus (Amar) 1 1 Acr 1 NA 1 Amarh 1 Ab 1 NA A. molluscorum (Amoll) 3 3 Aski + Acr 3 NA 3 Amoll 3 NA* 3 NA A. defluvii (Adef) 11 11 Acr 11 Ab 11 Adef 11 NA*d 11 Ab A. trophiarum (Atroph) 3 3 Acr 2 Abd 3 Ab 3 NA* 3 Atroph 1 NA A. ellisii (Aelli) 3 3 Acr 3 Acr1A + Acr1B 3 Aelli 2 Aski 1 Ab 1 NA*d 2 Ab +Acrd A. bivalviorum (Abiv) 3 3 Acr 3 Acr1B 3 Abiv 3 NA 3 NA A. venerupis (Aven) 1 1 Acr 1 Ab 1 Avenh 1 Ab 1 Ab A. cloacae (Acloa) 2 2 Acr 2 Ab + Acr1B 2 Acloa 2 NA* 2 NA A. suis (Asuis) 1 1 Acr 1 Acr1A 1 Adef 1 NA 1 Ab Correctly identified strains   53 (55.8%) 31 (32.6%) 79 (83.2%) 79 (83.2%) 79 (83.2%) aAll strains were identified using the RFLP method of Figueras et al. [19] that had been specifically designed to recognize all species.