Re-speciation of the original reference strains of serovars in the Citrobacter freundii (Bethesda-Ballerup group) antigenic scheme of West and edwards.

Abstract

The antigenic scheme for the Bethesda-Ballerup group of bacteria established by West and Edwards in 1954 has continued to be applied as a serotyping scheme for Citrobacter freundii. In 1993, however, the classification of the Citrobacter was drastically revised and the species C. freundii redefined by Brenner et al. Accordingly, to judge the propriety to continuously use a single antigenic scheme for the C. freundii complex, the 90 reference strains listed in the antigenic scheme for C. freundii by West and Edwards were characterized phenotypically and specified based on the revised classification. Of these 90 strains, two strains of Hafnia alvei and one of Escherichia coli were found. Among the remaining 87 reference strains, Citrobacter youngae was the predominant species (40 strains), followed by Citrobacter braakii (25 strains), Citrobacter werkmanii (13 strains), and the unnamed Citrobacter genospecies 10 of Brenner et al (six strains). Citrobacter freundii, as redefined, accounted for only three strains and ranked behind the other four species. No overlapping with most of the 42 O-groups and 82 H-antigens was recognized between species with few exceptions. O-groups 1-9 inclusive, which were estimated to represent more than 90% of the former C.freundii strains, occurred in strains of C. youngae and C. braakii; and all nine strains of O-group 29, formerly known as the Ballerup group, were identified as C. braakii. These findings suggest that further study of the serotyping system is needed for all H2S-producing Citrobacter species.