New Medium for the Simultaneous Detection of Total Coliforms and Escherichia coli in Water

Abstract

A new membrane filter agar medium (MI agar) containing a chromogen, indoxyl-(beta)-D-glucuronide, and a fluorogen, 4-methylumbelliferyl-(beta)-D-galactopyranoside, was developed to simultaneously detect and enumerate Escherichia coli and total coliforms (TC) in water samples on the basis of their enzyme activities. TC produced (beta)-galactosidase, which cleaved 4-methylumbelliferyl-(beta)-D-galactopyranoside to form 4-methylumbelliferone, a compound that fluoresced under longwave UV light (366 nm), while E. coli produced (beta)-glucuronidase, which cleaved indoxyl-(beta)-D-glucuronide to form a blue color. The new medium TC and E. coli recoveries were compared with those of mEndo agar and two E. coli media, the mTEC agar and nutrient agar supplemented with 4-methylumbelliferyl-(beta)-D-galactopyranoside, using natural water samples and spiked drinking water samples. On average, the new medium recovered 1.8 times as many TC as mEndo agar, with greatly reduced background counts (<7%). These differences were statistically significant (significance level, 0.05). Although the overall analysis revealed no statistically significant difference between the E. coli recoveries on MI agar and mTEC agar, the ne medium recovered more E. coli in 16 of the 23 samples (69.6%). Both MI agar and mTEC agar recovered significantly more E. coli than nutrient agar supplemented with 4-methylumbelliferyl-(beta)-D-galactopyranoside. Specificities for E. coli, TC, and noncoliforms on MI agar were 95.7% (66 of 69 samples), 93.1% (161 of 173 samples), and 93.8% (61 of 65 samples), respectively. The E. coli false-positive and false-negative rates were both 4.3%. This selective and specific medium, which employs familiar membrane filter technology to analyze several types of water samples, is less expensive than the liquid chromogen and fluorogen media and may be useful for compliance monitoring of drinking water.

Description

pages 3534-3544

Keywords

total coliforms, Escherichia coli, environmental health, water quality

Citation