Streptococcus zymogenes

Abstract

MacCallum and Hastings (1899) described under the name of Micrococcus zymogenes an organism obtained from a case of acute endocarditis. They noted the characteristic grouping in pairs, less frequently in short chains, and stated that the organism showed points of resemblance to Streptococcus pyogenes and the pneumococci on the one hand and to the pyogenic staphylococci on the other. MacCallum and Hastings indicated that their organism was probably a common intestinal form, as evidenced by the fact that it had also been isolated from sewage by their associate, Dr. Norman MacLeod Harris. Shortly after the work of MacCallum and Hastings, Harris and Longcope (1901) reported the organism in specimens from human autopsies, and since that time it has been reported intermittently from clinical and fecal sources. This organism was early recognized as a streptococcus (Winslow and Winslow, 1908) and has been so classified by more recent investigators. Although it cannot be certain that all cultures that have been called Streptococcus zymogenes by subsequent investigators have in fact been the organism of MacCallum and Hastings, there would appear to be little room for error in its identification. Mac-Callum and Hastings' description is an extraordinarily beautiful example of the accuracy with which the characteristics of bacteria were sometimes portrayed by the earlier bacteriologists, whose working tools were so limited in comparison with the methods of today. The liquefaction of gelatin and the proteolysis of casein were noted; attention was called to the strong reducing action of the organism in litmus milk, the especially significant point being 483

Self-transferable plasmids determining the hemolysin and bacteriocin of Streptococcus faecalis var. zymogenes

“…We have also shown that these properties are linked to a transferable plasmid and are lost spontaneously from a host cell at high frequency. Spontaneous loss of hemolytic activity is a property commonly observed for zymogenes strains (7,17). Tomura et al (18) have recently shown that another S. faecalis strain carried transferable hemolysin and bacteriocin traits.…”

Streptococcus fecalis

“…What may eventually prove to be highly specific tests for streptococci belonging to the enterococcus group are those for the ability to grow in broth containing 6.5 per cent of sodium chloride, and in broth adjusted to a pH of 9.6 (Sherman and Stark, 1934;Sherman, Stark and Mauer, 1937). Although these tests have been tried on only 24 of the cultures of S. fecalis contained in this collection, all of them grew actively.…”

“…The ability to grow in skimmed milk containing 0.1 per cent medicinal methylene blue is a property which is limited to the "enterococcus" and "lactic" groups of the streptococci, in so far as present knowledge extends (Sherman, Stark and Mauer, 1937). The much-used and uncritically-applied test of Sherman and Albus (1918), involving more dilute methylene blue, was devised for another purpose and is of course much less inhibitory.…”

“…The thermal resistance of the organisms was not tested on the entire collection, but this well known characteristic of the group was checked on 132 cultures. The more recently suggested "tolerance tests" the ability to grow in media of high alkalinity, and in the presence of relatively high concentrations of sodium chloride and methylene blue-were used on only a few of the cultures of this collection, but we have had sufficient experience with these tests on other cultures to feel sure of their value in studies of this group of the streptococci (Sherman and Stark, 1934;Sherman, Stark and Mauer, 1937).…”

Presumptive Identification of Group D Streptococci: the Bile-Esculin Test

“…Sherman and his co-workers (15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)25) showed that the heat-tolerance, salt-tolerance, and 0.1% methylene blue milk (MBM) tests could be used to distinguish between enterococcal and nonenterococcal streptococci. They showed that the enterococci tolerated 60 C for 30 min, grew in the presence of 6.5% NaCl, and reduced MBM, whereas other kinds of streptococci would not.…”