A total of 121 Yersinia enterocolitica O3 isolates from patients with
gastroenteritis and 37 Y. enterocolitica reference strains with differ
ent O antigens were tested for bacteriocine production and sensitivity
. By using cross-streaking method strains belonging to serogroups of O
5; O7,8; O7,13; O11; O11,23; O13,27; O17; O19,8 and O34 produced bacte
riocin-like substances. None of the Y. enterocolitica O3 strains produ
ced bacteriocin-like material and most of them were uniformly sensitiv
e against the bacteriocin-like material produced by strains of serogro
ups O7,8; O7,13; O13,27 and O19,8. By sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacry
lamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) significant differences were dem
onstrated in the whole cell protein patterns of Y. enterocolitica refe
rence strains belonging to different serogroups in the range of 33-47
kilodalton (kDa). Out of the ten examined bacteriocin-like material pr
oducer strains only one strain harboured a plasmid of about 60 megadal
ton (MDa).