Bacteriocin Typing of Staphylococci

Skalka, B.: Bacteriocin Typing of Staphylococci. Acta vet. Bmo, 61,1992: 179-187. The report describes bacteriocin typing of staphylococcal strains using the deferred method. The collection of active strains comprised 11 strains, Q of which were isolated by the author, namely 3 S. intermedius strains, 2 S. hominis strains and 1 strain each of S. epidermidis, S. simulans, S. sciuri and S. haemolyticus, and two additional strains, namely S. aureus producing bacteriocin Bac Rl and S. simulans biovar staphylolyticus. The active strains varied in spectrum and intensity of their effects on both indicator stains and examined strains. Using the active strains a total of 2 083 staphylococcal strains representing a great majority of known staphylococcal species were typed. The highest sensitivity was shown by coagulase-positive species, lower sensitivity was found in coagulase-negative, novobiocin-sensitive species and the lowest sensitivity was found in coagulase-negative, novobiocin-resistant species. The bacteriocin typing described in the report may prove useful for detailed characteristics of staphylococcal strains. Bacteriocin typing, deferred method, Staphylococcus spp., active strains, indicator strains, examined strains Our previous reports on antibiotic products of staphylococci have described the characteristics of bacteriocins, also called staphylococcins, bacteriocin-like substances, together with information on their frequency within the genus Staphylococcus and their application in presumptive bacteriocin typing of staphylococci (Skalka 1985, 1986a, 1986b). Till now practical utilization of staphylococcins and staphylococcin-like staphylococcal antibiotic substances has been limited to laboratory studies in spite of some Folitary descriptions of their successful clinical use in staphylococcal infections (Lachowicz 1965, Gerber and Nowak 1976) and in the therapy of a skin disease of Dermatophilus congolensis aetiology (Zaria 1991). Laboratory use of staphylococcin producers has been described by Ivanov (1970, J etten and Vogels (1972), Pulverer and J eljaszewicz (l976) and Smarda and ObdrHlek (1981). The object of the present study is to present our own set of active strains and its use in bacteriocin typing of staphylococcal species. Materials and Methods