Toxigenic strains of Bacillus licheniformis related to food poisoning.

Toxin-producing isolates of Bacillus licheniformis were obtained from foods involved in food poisoning incidents, from raw milk, and from industrially produced baby food. The toxin detection method, based on the inhibition of boar spermatozoan motility, has been shown previously to be a sensitive assay for the emetic toxin of Bacillus cereus, cereulide. Cell extracts of the toxigenic B. licheniformis isolates inhibited sperm motility, damaged cell membrane integrity, depleted cellular ATP, and swelled the acrosome, but no mitochondrial damage was observed. The responsible agent from the B. licheniformis isolates was partially purified. It showed physicochemical properties similar to those of cereulide, despite having very different biological activity. The toxic agent was nonproteinaceous; soluble in 50 and 100% methanol; and insensitive to heat, protease, and acid or alkali and of a molecular mass smaller than 10,000 g mol(-1). The toxic B. licheniformis isolates inhibited growth of Corynebacterium renale DSM 20688(T), but not all inhibitory isolates were sperm toxic. The food poisoning-related isolates were beta-hemolytic, grew anaerobically and at 55 degrees C but not at 10 degrees C, and were nondistinguishable from the type strain of B. licheniformis, DSM 13(T), by a broad spectrum of biochemical tests. Ribotyping revealed more diversity; the toxin producers were divided among four ribotypes when cut with PvuII and among six when cut with EcoRI, but many of the ribotypes also contained nontoxigenic isolates. When ribotyped with PvuII, most toxin-producing isolates shared bands at 2.8 +/- 0.2, 4.9 +/- 0.3, and 11.7 +/- 0.5 or 13.1 +/- 0.8 kb.