Lecithinase and toxin production in Bacillus species.

A total of 96 Bacillus species consisting of B. licheniformis, B. pumilus, B. subtilis, B. megaterium and B. polymyxa isolated from smoked meat were screened for both lecithinase and toxin production. Lecithinase production was found to be wide-spread among these species and to be strain specific. A high percentage of the tested species (66.7-100%) was strongly lecithinase positive. Like lecithinase, toxin production is wide-spread among the Bacillus species and is equally strain specific. With the exception of the B. pumilus isolates, an absolute correlation between lecithinase and toxin production could not be established among the tested isolates. In B. pumilus both lecithinase and toxin are detectable in the culture filtrate after three hours incubation but while maximal lecithinase synthesis occurs within three hours, maximal toxin production is not attained within 15 h incubation. B. pumilus toxin proved toxic for mice but not for rats.