The existence of atypical enterococci in Idiazábal ewe's milk cheese

Ninety-six strains of Enterococcus isolated from Idiazabal ewe's milk cheese have been identified by means of biochemical tests. These isolates were divided into 4 groups according to biochemical characteristics. Strains of group I were identified as E. faecium, and a total of 70.6% were atypical strains. Strains of group II were E. durans, and a total of 89.2% of atypical strains. The groups III and IV were identified as E. faecalis and E. avium with 47.1% and 100% of atypical strains, respectively. Among the atypicals strains, a total of 24.7% did not ferment the melibiose and a total of 16.4% and 13.7% the arabinose and melezitose, respectively. As confirmation of these results another microbial identification method, protein profiles of total proteins (SDS-PAGE), was used. The cluster analysis by means of the software package GEL-COMPAR version 4.0 confirms that large number of strains isolated are atypical, because they are not located within the same subgroup as the corresponding collection strains.