54 clinical isolates of Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans showed distinct hybrdization patern(DAN fingerprinting patterns) when the bacterial DNA were hybridized with randomly cloned 4.7 - kb DNA probe. The frequency of the genotypic distribution demonstrated that type C was the most prevalent genotype, the next being D, NT, A, B, and E in the descending order. The most prevalent serotype was serotype c, the next being a, nd, and b in the descending order. It was noted that the one serotype can represent more than two different genotypes and that multiple genotypic variants can also exist in the periodontal pockets within the sam subject.