Differentiation of Enterococcus spp. by cell membrane fatty acid methyl ester profiling, biotyping and ribotyping.
OBJECTIVE
Gas chromatographic analysis of cell membrane fatty acid methyl esters (FAME), biochemical profiling (biotyping) and EcoRI restriction endonuclease profiling of DNA containing ribosomal RNA sequences (ribotyping) were compared for differentiation of Enterococcus spp.


RESULTS
FAME profiling, biotype profiling and ribotyping of 41 strains from retail Swiss-type cheeses and five strains from culture collections resulted in 17, 25 and 26 groups, respectively, with only two pairs of strains having the same FAME group, biotype profile and ribogroup.


CONCLUSIONS
Substantial overlap occurred in groupings assigned by the three methods.


CONCLUSIONS
Differentiation of Enterococcus spp. strains increases if multiple methods are used.
Lang
M M
MM
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Food Science, Madison, WI 53706-1565, USA.
Ingham
S C
SC
Ingham
B H
BH
D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000737:chemistry; D002611:Cheese / Q000382:microbiology*; D002849:Chromatography, Gas; D016983:Enterococcus / Q000737:chemistry / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D013293:Enterococcus faecalis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D016984:Enterococcus faecium / Q000737:chemistry / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D004952:Esters; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D005516:Food Microbiology; D021521:Ribotyping
D004952:Esters; D005227:Fatty Acids