In order to ascertain the temperature range of growth of
Yersinia enterocolitica, together with
Yersinia pseudotuberculosis, the patterns of viable cell counts at various incubation periods were compared between these species and the known three groups of enteropathogens, Salmonella, Shigella, and enteropathogenic
Escherichia coil, by using a temperature-gradient incubator.
The growth temperature of
Y. enterocolitica ranged from 0 to 44C. It was quite similar to that of
Y. pseudotuberculosis. The optimal growth temperature of
Y. enterocolitica was assumed to be around 30C. In contrast to this, the growth temperature range of the other three groups of enteropathogens ranged from 7 to 47C. The optimal growth temperature of these organisms ranged from 36 to 43C. The minimum generation time of
Y. enterocolitica was calculated to be 41.3-47.5 minutes at the age of 4-8 hours of incubation at 25-30C, while that of the other organisms was 24.7-28.7 minutes at the age of less than 4 hours of incubation at 36-42C.
Therefore, it was concluded that
Y. enterocolitica was unique among enteropathogenic bacteria, since it was characterized by its psychrophilic property and fairly long generation time.
View full abstract