Biochemical and Molecular Characterization of Obesumbacterium proteus, a Common Contaminant of Brewing Yeasts.
We have evaluated the effectiveness of API 20E, Biolog testing, plasmid profiling, ribotyping, and enteric repetitive intergenic consensus (ERIC)-PCR to characterize, classify, and differentiate nine bacterial isolates of the common brewery contaminant Obesumbacterium proteus. Of the five typing techniques, Biolog testing, plasmid profiling, and ERIC-PCR provided the most differentiation, and API 20E testing and ribotyping were relatively indiscriminate. The molecular biology approach of ERIC-PCR offered the ideal combination of speed, simplicity, and discrimination in this study. Overall, the results are supportive of the view that O. proteus can be subdivided into two biogroups, biogroup 1, which has considerable biochemical and genetic homology to Hafnia alvei, and biogroup 2, which is relatively heterogeneous.
Prest
A G
AG
Department of Applied Biochemistry and Food Science, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE12 5RD, United Kingdom.
Hammond
J R
JR
Stewart
G S
GS