Deák T, Timár E
Department of Microbiology, University of Horticulture and Food Industry, Budapest, Hungary.
Int J Food Microbiol. 1988 Mar;6(2):115-25. doi: 10.1016/0168-1605(88)90048-7.
Bacillus spp. are among the main spoilage organisms in food due to their versatile metabolism and heat-resistant spores. Except for B. cereus, no specific identification method is available, although information about Bacillus spp. would be useful in monitoring good manufacturing practice. A simplified identification scheme for aerobic spore-formers for routine laboratory use was elaborated by reducing the number of tests to be performed; 20 Bacillus spp. common in foods were considered. Besides cell morphology six biochemical characters were selected that proved most efficient in identification. In addition, methods were developed and modified to determine these characters by only 3 tests. By applying the simplified identification scheme, 766 strains of bacilli isolated from various foods were tested and species identity of 714 strains (93%) could be determined. Most aerobic spore-formers from foods were B. subtilis, B. pumilus and B. licheniformis. The spectrum of mesophilic bacilli isolated from natural sources was broad and comprised some 20 different species. Only one-third of the thermophilic isolates proved to be identical with, or similar to, B. stearothermophilus, while the rest were identified as five other species. The simplified method merits main application in ecological studies of foods.
由于芽孢杆菌属具有多样的代谢方式和耐热孢子，它们是食品中主要的腐败微生物之一。除蜡样芽孢杆菌外，目前尚无特定的鉴定方法，尽管有关芽孢杆菌属的信息对于监测良好生产规范很有用。通过减少需进行的测试数量，精心设计了一种适用于常规实验室的需氧芽孢杆菌简化鉴定方案；该方案考虑了食品中常见的20种芽孢杆菌。除细胞形态外，还选择了6种生化特征，这些特征在鉴定中被证明最为有效。此外，还开发并改进了方法，仅通过3项测试就能确定这些特征。应用该简化鉴定方案，对从各种食品中分离出的766株芽孢杆菌进行了测试，能够确定714株（93%）的菌种身份。食品中大多数需氧芽孢杆菌为枯草芽孢杆菌、短小芽孢杆菌和地衣芽孢杆菌。从自然来源分离出的嗜温芽孢杆菌种类繁多，约有20种不同的菌种。只有三分之一的嗜热分离株被证明与嗜热脂肪芽孢杆菌相同或相似，其余的则被鉴定为其他5个菌种。该简化方法主要适用于食品的生态学研究。
