One-tube oxidation-fermentation methods: limitations posed by atypical fermentative reactions.

Atypical fermentation in the two-tube method of Hugh and Leifson (1953), whereby acid was produced in the sealed tube but not in the open tube, was determined to be the result of a preferential metabolism of peptone over the reactant carbohydrate. These atypical fermentations are only partially detected by one-tube oxidation-fermentation methods, and as such they constitute a source of limitation to the routine use of these abbreviated techniques for oxidative-fermentation determinations.