The cultural characteristics and serological relationships of isolates of Melissococcus pluton
Author(s)
M Fallen; B V Ball
Abstract
Melissococcus pluton was isolated from Apis mellifera larvae from Brazil, China and the UK. The cultural characteristics and nutritional requirements of these isolates were compared with the UK type isolate, a previously described isolate from Brazil and an isolate from A. cerana from India. All isolates were fastidious in their cultural requirements except for the Brazilian isolates which grew on a wider range of bacteriological media. Polyclonal antisera were prepared against a UK isolate and a Brazilian isolate, and with three previously prepared antisera (two against a North American isolate and one against the A. cerana isolate) were used in tube agglutination tests to study the serological relationships of M. pluton isolates. All isolates were closely
Keywords
honey bees, Apis mellifera, Apis cerana, Melissococcus pluton, European foulbrood, culture media, cultural characterization, bacterial agglutination, serological relationships, Brazil, China, India, UK
