Biotypes of Proteus rettgeri

Abstract

Examination of 729 isolates of Proteus rettgeri showed that 674 reacted positively in tests for phenylalanine deamination, indole production, growth on citrate, and acid production from meso-inositol, and negatively for L-ornithine decarboxylation and acid production from lactose, maltose, D-xylose, and L-arabinose. Only 51 isolates differed in one, and four differed in two of these ten reactions, which were taken as the core characteristics of the species. On the basis of additional tests (acid production from salicin, L-rhamnose, D-mannitol, adonitol, and D-arabitol), the 729 isolates could be separated into five groups. Goups 1, 2, 3, and 4 could be further separated on the basis of the reaction with meso-erythritol, and group 5 could be subdivided on the basis of reaction with D-mannitol. Two metabolically distinct kinds of P. rettgeri were recognized. Isolates of the first kind (groups 1, 2, 3, and 4) each utilized both adonitol and D-arabitol and most utilized meso-erythritol. Isolates of the other kind (group 5) were negative with the three polyhydric alcohols but resembled, in their reactions, some strains of Providencia stuartii. These may be intermediates between P. rettgeri that catabolize these substrates and the Providencia.