Department of Microbiology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
J Clin Microbiol. 2012 Nov;50(11):3780-2. doi: 10.1128/JCM.02299-12. Epub 2012 Sep 12.
Staphylococcus aureus can be distinguished from similar coagulase-positive staphylococci by its absence of β-galactosidase activity. This is commonly tested using o-nitrophenyl-β-D-galactopyranoside (ONPG) as the substrate. Unexpectedly, 111 and 58 of 123 isolates displayed apparent β-galactosidase activity in the ONPG assay and on the Vitek 2 system, respectively. Compositional analysis showed that the yellow coloration of the positive ONPG assay resulted from production of 2-aminophenoxazin-3-one. Alternative β-galactosidase substrates like X-Gal (5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl-β-D-galactopyranoside) should be used for testing staphylococci.
金黄色葡萄球菌可以通过缺乏β-半乳糖苷酶活性与类似的凝固酶阳性葡萄球菌区分开来。这通常使用邻硝基苯-β-D-半乳糖吡喃糖苷(ONPG)作为底物进行测试。出乎意料的是,在 ONPG 测定和 Vitek 2 系统中,123 株分离株中的 111 株和 58 株分别表现出明显的β-半乳糖苷酶活性。组成分析表明,阳性 ONPG 测定的黄色着色是由于产生 2-氨基苯并恶嗪-3-酮。应该使用替代的β-半乳糖苷酶底物,如 X-Gal(5-溴-4-氯-3-吲哚基-β-D-半乳糖吡喃糖苷),用于测试葡萄球菌。