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A total of 62 strains of Actinomyces pyogenes (previously Corynebacterium pyogenes) were examined by the API 20 Strep system (API System, La Balme Les Grottes, Montalieu-Vercieu, France). The system was shown to be reliable and rapid when the tests were compared with standard identification methods. No confusion occurred with streptococcal profiles in the current API 20 Strep data base.
A study was performed to evaluate a new manual miniaturized system, API Coryne (API-bioMérieux, Inc., La Balme les Grottes, France), in which conventional biochemical methods were used to identify 240 isolates of coryneform and related bacteria. A total of 40% of the isolates were excluded from the study because they could not be identified by conventional methods. Identifications of the 240 isolates obtained with API Coryne showed a 97.6% concordance with conventional methods (79% after 24 h of incubation, 21% after 48 h of incubation): 158 (65.8%) isolates were identified with no further testing, and extra testing was required for 76 (31.8%) isolates. In three (1.2%) cases, the organisms did not correspond to any key in the code book and could not be identified by the computer service of the manufacturer. Only three (1.2%) strains were misidentified. The system was shown to be reliable and rapid when compared with standard identification methods.
Two commercially available micromethod multitest systems (API, Analytab Products, Inc., Minitek-Bioquest) were compared with conventional tests suggested by the Center for Disease Control for the identification of anaerobes. Anaerobiosis for the microsystems was achieved using GasPak system (BBL), A total of 175 anaerobes, including 158 clinical isolates and 17 reference strains, were used. Gram morphology, gas-liquid chromatography data, and biochemical reactions from the Center for Disease Control and Virginia Polytechnic Institute anaerobic manuals were used to identify the organisms. The Minitek system included a new anaerobe inoculum broth and two new disks, dextrose without nitrate and nitrate reductase disks. The percentage of correlation of 12 biochemicals using Minitek and 11 biochemicals using the API were compared with the Center for Disease Control reactions. The percentage of correlation of both positive and negative reactions with the API anaerobic strip ranged from 70.8 to 99.4% and with the Minitek from 97.1 to 100%. The microsystems were also evaluated as to the ease of use, adaptabilty to a clinical laboratory, time, and cost.
The API 20 STREP system was used to identify 146 known strains from seven species of the genus Listeria, including both pathogenic and environmental strains. The gallery was easy to use and tests, with the exception of leucine arylamidase (LAP) and starch fermentation (AMD), were simple to interpret. Identification to genus level was satisfactory but differentiation between species was poor. Using the API 20 STREP the haemolytic species L monocytogenes, seeligeri, and ivanovii could easily be differentiated from the non-haemolytic species L welshimeri, innocua, grayii and murrayi. Of the haemolytic species, L monocytogenes could not be distinguished from L seeligeri but L ivanovii could be separated from the two other haemolytic species because it fermented ribose. Non-haemolytic L welshimeri could not be differentiated from non-haemolytic L innocua, but mannitol and ribose fermenting non-haemolytic L grayi and L murrayi were easily differentiated from the other two non-haemolytic species. The API 20 STREP identified Listeria in four hours and therefore might be used for rapid identification of strains causing infection in man. It would, however, not be useful to identify environmental isolates when speciation is important.
The API 20NE kit and a simple screening system involving Gram's stain, the oxidase reaction, colistin and gentamicin resistance, and colonial characteristics on a differential agar medium, were used to test 400 strains of Pseudomonas pseudomallei. The API kit identified 390 (97.5%) strains correctly on first testing and all but one of the remainder on second testing. Only one strain was initially misidentified (as Ps cepacia). The screening system was 100% accurate in identifying Ps pseudomallei. In non-endemic areas the API 20NE kit may be used to identify sporadic imported strains of Ps pseudomallei. Such kits may also help to delineate the geographical distribution of melioidosis. In endemic areas the screening tests described offer a cheap, simple, and accurate means of presumptively identifying Ps pseudomallei from clinical specimens.
One hundred and three strains of Actinomyces pyogenes isolated from ruminants were examined for morphological, cultural and biochemical properties by standard tests and by the Api 50 CH and Api Coryne methods. No biotype could be demonstrated, but a few atypical non- or practically non-proteolytic strains were detected which should be differentiated from Arcanobacterium haemolyticum. Criteria for laboratory identification of A pyogenes were established: Gram stain; culture on blood agar; deep agar and Loeffler's medium; catalase, nitrate reduction, acid formation from xylose; Hugh and Leifson test. The Api Coryne system correctly identified only 58 of 103 A pyogenes cultures, which implies that it should be re-evaluated before use in veterinary diagnosis laboratories.
The API 20 NE system is designed for the rapid identification of Gram negative rods other than Enterobacteriaceae. It has been compared to conventional methods in the characterization of 404 strains representative of 23 species belonging to 3 genera: Pseudomonas (236 strains), Flavobacterium (133 strains) and Alcaligenes (35 strains). The system consists of 9 enzymatic tests and 12 carbohydrate assimilation tests. A 7-digit numerical profile is obtained by an octal coding of the test results. The strains are identified by comparing the numerical profile to those of species listed in a profile index. The API 20 NE tests showed 99-100% correlation with corresponding conventional methods except in indole production (96.5%) for which we observed 14 false negative reactions in testing F. meningosepticum and CDC groups IIb and IIf. The API 20 NE system presented 94.1% identification to the species level and 96.3% to the genus level in agreement with conventional biochemical methods. Among the correctly identified strains, 7.4% (30) gave an erroneous or unlisted numerical profile in the first version of the Profile Index and required the use of the computer. Among the misidentified strains 2%, (8) were assigned to the right genus but wrong species, 0.7% (3) were placed in the wrong genus and 1% (4) gave a doubtful profile with one or more tests compared to the profiles listed.
Seven Klebsiella rhinoscleromatis standard cultures and two wild isolates were examined for their responses to Api 20E (API System, S.A.) strips. Several strains yield incostant results for arabinose fermentation test in Api strips and, when positive, they were not identified. The arabinose positive test indeed, led to the numerical profiles 0004773 (not mentioned in the analytical catalogue), or 0004553 (two strains) corresponding to a Klebsiella ozaenae identification. The mathematical analysis of the biochemical results confirmed the identity of the strains as K. rhinoscleromatis.
116 strains of Gram negative bacteria were identified with the use of API ATB 32 GN and Rapid 20 E galeries, in order to evaluate their performance as compared with API 20 E or API NE galeries used as reference. The identification concur (bacterial genus and species) in approximately 80 per cent of the cases. There are only 2 major discrepancies with ABT 32 GN galleries and only one with Rapid 20 E. In other cases, the profile that is obtained only permits identification of the genus but without a sufficient differentiation, requiring a study of additional characteristics or repetition of the test. These galeries enable to solve most routine diagnosis problems due to Gram negative bacteria, with the advantage of Rapid (Rapid 20 E) or automatized reading (ATB 32 GN).
Minibact, a new system for four-hour identification of Enterobacteriaceae, combined with a computer identification system, was compared with Micro-ID and API 20E in testing 110 strains of Enterobacteriaceae. Minibact gave identification rates of 96.4% at species level and 96.4% at genus level; the corresponding values for Micro-ID were 87.3% and 91.8%, and for API 20E 91.8% and 94.5%. In conclusion, Minibact combined with a computer identification program gave high identification rates fully comparable to those of Micro-ID and API 20E, and the system might be an alternative to conventional identification systems in clinical microbiological departments.
Identifications of 201 Enterobacteriaceae isolates were compared by MORLOC (a new system) and the API 20E system. Identifications agreed for 192 isolates (95.5 per cent). Of the nine discrepancies, MORLOC was correct for four, API for three; neither for one; and for one, MORLOC agreed with the reference laboratory but apparently all three systems were incorrect. The MORLOC system requires an extra day for a TSI but is smaller and simpler and can be recommended as easier to use, more reproducible, less expensive, and, in this study, more accurate than the API 20E.
BACKGROUND: The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) is responsible for developing and maintaining a universal virus taxonomy. As the reference framework for organising the viral world, it is essential for virology and related fields. Despite its widespread use in research and public health, programmatic access to ICTV taxonomy has remained limited, posing challenges for integration, versioning, and interoperability across databases and bioinformatics resources requiring up-to-date virus taxonomy. FINDINGS: To address this, we developed a public and sustainable solution leveraging ontology-based APIs. All available ICTV Master Species List (MSL) releases, from MSL1 to MSL41, were transformed into a unified, semantically structured ontology comprising more than 195,000 current and historical entities and deployed through the Ontology Lookup Service (OLS). The ontology is automatically rebuilt and republished whenever a new MSL release becomes available. Complementary ICTV-NCBI mappings and helper libraries support integration into downstream systems. CONCLUSIONS: Together, these resources enable, for the first time, public programmatic retrieval of current and historical ICTV taxon names, taxonomic relationships, metadata, and persistent identifiers through stable endpoints, including resolution of former taxonomic terms to their current accepted taxon or taxa and retrieval of taxon histories across releases. More broadly, this work illustrates a general strategy for transforming structured biological datasets into semantically enriched graph resources exposed through scalable public APIs. These developments enhance interoperability, reduce manual curation, and support FAIR-aligned taxonomic data management in virology and pandemic preparedness.
The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) is responsible for developing and maintaining a universal virus taxonomy. As the reference framework for organising the viral world, it is essential for virology and related fields. Despite its widespread use in research and public health, programmatic access to ICTV taxonomy has remained limited, posing challenges for integration, versioning, and interoperability across databases and bioinformatics resources requiring up-to-date virus taxonomy. To address this, we developed a public and sustainable solution leveraging ontology-based APIs. Successive ICTV Master Species List (MSL) releases were transformed into a structured ontology and deployed as a unified representation through the Ontology Lookup Service (OLS). The framework also provides ICTV-NCBI mappings and helper libraries for integration into downstream systems. This enables, for the first time, public programmatic retrieval of current and historical virological taxon names, taxonomic relationships, metadata, and persistent identifiers through stable endpoints. More broadly, this work illustrates a general strategy for transforming structured biological datasets into semantically enriched graph resources exposed through scalable public APIs. These developments enhance interoperability, reduce manual curation, and support FAIR-aligned taxonomic data management in virology and pandemic preparedness.
Data are analyzed on an aspect of aggressiveness in workers from colonies of Africanized bees (Apis mellifera adansonii), Italian bees (Apis mellifera ligustica), their F1 hybrids, and backcrosses of the F1 to the parental stocks (Rothenbuhler method). The segregation values (3:1) in the backcrosses to the Africanized stock and nonsegregation in the backcrosses to the Italian stock suggest the existence of two pairs of genes (F1/F1; F2/F2 IN THE Italian bees and f1/f1; f2/f2 in the Africanized bees) which control a character defined of the number of stings in the gloves of the observer.
The discovery that drones of the Japanese honeybee (Apis cerana japonica) pollinate the oriental orchid (Cymbidium pumilum) is reported. Drones are attracted to the orchid flower aroma mainly during their mating flights in April through May. Some drones cluster on the flower racemes and others insert their heads deep into the flowers. Drones with pollinia on their scutellum visit other orchids, which facilitates pollination. Individual workers and swarming colonies are also strongly attracted by the flower aroma, but the allopatric western honeybee (Apis mellifera) is not attracted.
In a comparative study of three methods for same-day identification, the Rapid 20E identified 91.8% of 328 clinically isolated Enterobacteriaceae correctly to species level, 0.3% to genus level, 4.0% as part of a spectrum of identifications, and 4.0% incorrectly. Corresponding data for Micro-ID were 86.6%, 3.7%, 5.8%, 4.0%, and for same-day API 20E values were 72.6%, 7.3%, 13.4%, and 6.7%. Both Rapid 20E and Micro-ID provide accurate identification within four hours; same-day five-hour API 20E was less satisfactory.
The use of the API ZYM system for the identification of Clostridium difficile was investigated. The enzyme profiles generated by this system readily distinguished strains of Clostridium difficile from other clostridia commonly isolated from faeces. Enzyme activity of Clostridium difficile was influenced by the composition of the culture medium but appeared to be independent of the age of the culture. Given careful standardisation of techniques the API ZYM system is a suitable alternative to conventional techniques for identification of Clostridium difficile.
Using low stringency hybridisation with a Drosophila melanogaster EF-1 alpha gene fragment we have isolated a genomic DNA clone encoding elongation factor 1 alpha (EF-1 alpha) from Apis mellifera. The hybridising Apis mellifera sequence could be delineated to two small EcoRI fragments that were also revealed by genomic Southern hybridisation. By comparison with the corresponding Drosophila melanogaster data the complete translational reading frame has been deduced. It is interrupted by two intervening sequences of 220 and about 790 nucleotides. Comparison with known eucaryotic EF-1 alpha sequences further confirms that certain amino acid sequences seem to be invariable within the EF-1 alpha protein family.