Identification of Brucella Abortus Strain 19 by Decreased Ability to Utilize Erythritol as Determined by Gas Liquid Chromatography

Abstract

A method to identify Brucella abortus strain 19 by erythritol utilization using gas liquid chromatography (GLC) was developed. A total of 69 strains of B. abortus (41 virulent field strain isolates and 28 strain 19 isolates) were tested. Following incubation of the isolate with a standard amount of erythritol, the erythritol present in the cell suspension was acetylated and measured by GLC. Field strains of B. abortus utilized an average of 90.9% of the erythritol, whereas vaccine strains utilized an average of 42.4%. This difference in erythritol utilization will allow a more rapid identification of B. abortus strain 19.