[The ecological determinacy of the markers of staphylococcal persistence]

In the analysis of the presence and manifestation of the capacity for the inactivation of lysozyme, complement, the bactericidal component of interferon and immunoglobulins in 354 Staphylococcus aureus cultures and 175 S. epidermidis cultures the system of exogenous factors which determine the intraspecific dispersion of the properties under study has been characterized. The combined action of these factors leads to the selection of variants, most adequate to the conditions of a specific ecological niche, which is manifested both by the convergence of phenotypic characteristics in staphylococci of different species found in similar environment and by their divergence in the representatives of a certain species, isolated from different sources.