Bacteriocin-like antagonism in Yersinia enterocolitica

A total of 121 Yersinia enterocolitica O3 isolates from patients with gastroenteritis and 37 Y. enterocolitica reference strains with different O antigens were tested for bacteriocine production and sensitivity. By using cross-streaking method strains belonging to serogroups of O5; O7,8; O7,13; O11; O11,23; O13,27; O17; O19,8 and O34 produced bacteriocin-like substances. None of the Y. enterocolitica O3 strains produced bacteriocin-like material and most of them were uniformly sensitive against the bacteriocin-like material produced by strains of serogroups O7,8; O7,13; O13,27 and O19,8. By sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) significant differences were demonstrated in the whole cell protein patterns of Y. enterocolitica reference strains belonging to different serogroups in the range of 33-47 kilodalton (kDa). Out of the ten examined bacteriocin-like material producer strains only one strain harboured a plasmid of about 60 megadalton (MDa).