Esculin hydrolysis in the enterobacteriaceae
Esculin hydrolysis, as mentioned earlier, is now a recognized test in the identification of Group P enterococci. However, its use as a taxonomic tool in differentiating the genera and species of Enterobacteriaceae has not been widely accepted, partly because of the conflicting reports in the literature and partly because of the availability of more reliable tests. Some commercial kits (MS-2, Abbott Laboratories, Dallas, Texas; Micro-Id General Diagnostics, Morris Plains, New Jersey), however, have incorporated it among their battery of biochemical tests. The nature of the enzyme has not studied for bacteria other than the KES group and E.coli. Because of the conflicting reports in the literature (and prior to Edberg's et al., 1977, and Miskin and Edberg's 1978 work), I started investigating this reaction as a part of my research on the use of antibiograms as a taxonomic tool. Since the antibiogram work did not add any new information to the work done earlier (Hall, 1976; Shaffer, 1978) in the Microbiology Laboratory at the University of the Pacific, it was decided to limit the investigation to esculin hydrolysis by compiling the available data with the hope of clarifying the inconsistencies that appear in the literature.
Enterobacteriaceae, Chemistry, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
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