Skip to main content
PMC home page
Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica logoLink to Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica
. 1977 Jun 1;18(2):266–273. doi: 10.1186/BF03548455

The Biochemical Activity of Enterotoxin and Non-Enterotoxin Producing Staphylococci

Năgra biokemiska egenskaper hos enterotoxinbildaride och icke enterotoxinbildande stafylokocker

Marie-Louise Danielsson 1,✉, Bo Hellberg 1
PMCID: PMC8377687  PMID: 878967

Abstract

One hundred and sixty-nine staphylococcal strains of human origin have been tested for production of enterotoxin A, B or Ci, coagulase activity, DNase activity, typical growth on ETGP-agar, hemolysin production and the breakdown of mannitol under aerobic conditions. Very good correlation was observed between enterotoxin production and coagulase activity, in that 82 % of the enterotoxin producing strains also synthesized coagulase. The correlation between DNase activity and positive reaction in mannitol to enterotoxin production was also good (80 % of the enterotoxic strains produced both DNase and aerobic acid from mannitol). Of the enterotoxin producing strains 66 % hemolysed bovine erythrocytes and 61 % were ETGP-positive. However, the frequency of hemolysing respectively ETGP-positive but non-enterotoxin producing strains was very high, viz. 46 % respectively 32 %. It is concluded that enterotoxin production can not to a satisfactory degree of security be predicted by means of the other biochemical characters.

Keywords: staphylococci, enterotoxin

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (527.4 KB).

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Mrs. Margareta Lagerberg and Mrs. Lilly Stridsberg for their skilful technical assistance.

References

  1. Baird-Parker A C. An improved diagnostic and selective medium for isolating coagulase positive staphylococci. J. appl. Bact. 1962;25:12–19. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2672.1962.tb01113.x. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bergdoll M S, Weiss K F, Muster M J. Bact. Proc. 1967. The production of staphylococcal enterotoxin by a coagulase-negative microorganism; p. 12. [Google Scholar]
  3. Bergey's Manual of Determinative Bacteriology. Buchanan, R. E. & N. E. Gibbons, eds., 8th Ed. The Williams & Wilkins Company, Baltimore 1974, p. 478-489.
  4. Breckingridge J C, Bergdoll M S. Outbreak of food-borne gastroenteritis due to a coagulase-negative enterotoxin-producing staphylococcus. New Engl. J. Med. 1971;20:541–543. doi: 10.1056/NEJM197103112841010. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Casolari A, Campanini M, Lucisano A, Paini L. SulPidentificazione degli stafilococchi enterotossici. (On the identification of en-terotoxic staphylococci). Industria Conserve. 1973;48:13–18. [Google Scholar]
  6. Crowlet A J. A simplified micro double-diffusion agar precipitin technique. J. Lab. clin. Med. 1958;52:784–787. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Donnelly C B, Leslie J E, Black L A, Lewis K H. Serological identification of enterotoxigenic staphylococci from cheese. Appl. Microbiol. 1967;15:1382–1387. doi: 10.1128/AM.15.6.1382-1387.1967. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Evans J B, Buettner L G, Niven C F., Jr. Evaluation of the coagu-lase test in the study of staphylococci associated with food poisoning. J. Bact. 1950;60:481–484. doi: 10.1128/JB.60.4.481-484.1950. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Minor T E, Marth E H. Staphylococcus aureus and staphylococcal food intoxications. A review. I. The staphylococci: characteristics, isolation and behavior in artificial media. J. Milk Fd Technol. 1971;34:557–564. doi: 10.4315/0022-2747-34.11.557. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  10. Omori G, Kato Y. A staphylococcal food-poisoning caused by a coagulase negative strain. Biken's J. 1959;2:92–96. [Google Scholar]
  11. Reid W B, Wilson J B. A study of the staphylococci associated with the bovine udder. Amer. J. vet. Res. 1959;20:825–831. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Victor R, Lachica E, Weiss K F, Deibel R H. Relationships among coagulase, enterotoxin and heat-stable deoxyribonuclease by Staphylococcus aureus. Appl. Microbiol. 1969;18:126–127. doi: 10.1128/AM.18.1.126-127.1969. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Weckman B G, Catiin B W. Deoxyribonuclease activity of micrococci from clinical sources. J. Bact. 1957;73:747–753. doi: 10.1128/JB.73.6.747-753.1957. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Zehren W L, Zehren V F. Examination of large quantities of cheese for staphylococcal enterotoxin A. J. Dairy Sci. 1968;51:635–649. doi: 10.3168/jds.S0022-0302(68)87047-X. [DOI] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica are provided here courtesy of BMC

RESOURCES