PHOSPHATASE AND PENICILLINASE ACTIVITY ASSTABLE MARKERS FOR THE DIFFERENTIATION OF FRANCISELLA-TULARENSIS RACE

In the causative agent of tularemia new markers correlating with diffe rent subspecies of this microbe have been detected. Thus, F. tularensi s strains belonging to the American and Central Asian subspecies are c haracterized by phosphatase activity, which makes it possible to use t he phosphatase test for their differentiation from the strains of the holarctic variety. F. tularensis subsp. mediasiatica are incapable of producing beta-lactamase which differentiates them from the representa tives of the varieties holarctica and tularensis. These newly discover ed signs are stable and do not depend on the virulence of the cultures under study and on the conditions of the cultivation of F. tularensis .