A Study of some Pediococci and their Relationship to Aerococcus viridans and the Enterococci

Abstract

A collection of tetrad-forming bacteria was divided into five groups by physiological and biochemical tests. Of these groups four were identified as species of the genus Pediococcus according to the classification of Nakagawa & Kitahara (1959). Useful differential tests were: pseudocatalase activity, catalase activity in the presence of heated blood, fermentation cf glycerol and maltose, salt tolerance, pH sensitivity, final pH value in glucose broth culture, growth temperatures, arginine hydrolysis. The remaining group, composed of the type culture of Aerococcus viridans and a strain of Pediococcus urinae-equi, was identified as A. viridans. The pediococci were compared with enterococci and two species, P. pentosmeus and P. acidilactici, appeared to be physiologically and biochemically more like Streptococcus faeciurn than is S. faecalis