Abolition of swarming of Proteus by p-nitrophenyl glycerin: application to blood agar media.

Comparative plate counts were made of Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pyogenes growing on blood agar supplemented with individual chemicals to abolish the swarming of Proteus. B-phenylethanol, sodium azide, and p-nitrophenyl glycerin (PNPG) were used as anti-swarm agents. Each anti-swarm agent effectively abolished swarming for 24 h, but azide failed to control swarming for longer periods of incubation. In addition, azide displayed growth inhibition towards the staphylococci and streptococci resulting in no hemolysis and reduced viable cell numbers with the streptococci. Phenylethanol showed reduced viable cell numbers with the streptococci and unreliable hemolytic reactions. At 0.1 to 0.3 mM, PNPG proved to be a superior anti-swarm agent in that it showed no growth inhibition and allowed normal hemolysis, but abolished swarming for extended periods of time. When laboratory strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Listeria monocytogenes, and Vibrio cholerae were screened on a blood agar medium containing 0.1 mm PNPG, they displayed similar growth and hemolytic characteristics to the identical medium without PNPG.