Milk: Unchanged. Salt range: Limits of growth, 4 to 23 per- Indole not produced. cent salt. Optimum, 4.4 to 8.8 per cent NaCl. Hydrogen sulfide not produced. Will not grow in the presence of other so- No acid or gas produced from glucose. diu™ and potassium salts, including sodium Nitrates and nitrites are reduced to nitro- gen and nitrous oxide. Ammonia is not pro- duced. Urease activity negative. Catalase-positive. ammonium phosphate and ammonium sul- fate. Relationship to the denitrifying micro- coccus described by Beijerinck (Cent. f. Bakt., II A.ht.,25, 1910, 53) is being studied. Source: Isolated from Wiltshire bacon- Aerobic, curing brines in Canada. Temperature range, 0° to 32° C. Opti- Habitat: Presumably widely distributed mum, 20° C. in natural and artificial brines. Genus II. Staphylococcus Rosenbach, 1884.*t (Staphylococcus Ogston (nomen nudum), Jour. Anat. et. Physiol., Paris, 17, 1883, 27; Rosen- bach, Mikroorganismen bei den Wundinfektionskrankheiten des Menschen, Wiesbaden, 1884, 27; Aurococcus Winslow and Rogers, Jour. Inf. Dis., 3: 1906, 540; Albococcus Winslow and Rogers, ibid., 541; also see Evans, Bradford and Niven, Int. Bull, of Bact. Nomen. and Taxon., 5, 1955, 61.) Staph. y.lo.coc'cus. Gr. noun staphyle bunch of grapes; Gr. noun coccus a grain, berry; M.L. mas.n. Staphjlococciis the grape-like coccus. Spherical cells occurring singly, in pairs, in tetrads and in irregular clusters, especially when growing in broth. Non-motile. Gram-positive. Many strains produce an orange or yellow pigment, particularly on media containing high levels of NaCl. Most strains produce acetoin from glucose, ammonia from arginine, reduce nitrates and ferment a variety of car- bohydrates. Require an organic source of nitrogen (amino acids) and two or more vitamins for growth in a sjmthetic medium. Growth in a nutritionally adequate broth is abundant, usually with a heavy, uniform turbidity and a slight ring pellicle. Growth on agar media is usually abundant. Strongly catalase-positive. Facultative with respect to oxygen require- ment, growing very well anaerobically in the presence of a fermentable carbohydrate but growing even better aerobically. Coagulase-positive strains produce a variety of to.xins and are thus potentially pathogenic and may cause food poisoning. Frequently found on the skin, in skin glands, on the nasal and other mucous membranes of warm-blooded ani- mals and in a variety of food products. The type species is Staphylococcus aureus Rosenbach. Key to the species of genus Staphylococcus. I. Ferments mannitol. Coagulase-positive. 1. Staphylococcus aureus. II. Does not ferment mannitol. Coagulase-negative. 2. Staphylococcus epidermidis.
- Revised by Dr. J. B. Evans, American Meat Institute Foundation, University of Chi-
cago, Chicago, Illinois, April, 1955. t While Rosenbach describes the orange and the white pus-forming staphylococci of Ogston as two separate species, he states that he finds no difference between them other than the difference in chromogenesis. He describes them under the names Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus albus. White colonies occur frequently as variants and may be the only type present in a culture. These should not be considered a different species but merely a white variety of Staphylococcus aureus. The name Staphylococcus albus should never be used for these or for any other white staphylococci.
