you have isolated a gram positive coccus from a throat culture that you cannot identify as staphylococci or st

Question

you have isolated a gram positive coccus from a throat culture that you cannot identify as staphylococci or steptococci. A test for one enzyme can be used to distinguish quickly between these bacteria. What is the enzyme?

Answer 1

The catalase test determines if the organism produces the enzyme CATALASE, that breaks down hydrogen peroxide to water and oxygen. This enzyme allows organisms to breakdown harmful metabolites of aerobic respiration and may be seen in aerobic and facultatively anaerobic organisms. Identification for Staphlylococcus results when bubbles of free oxygen gas are observed on the surface of the meduim.
Hope this helps.

Answer 2

You should easily be able to identify them by their morphology on microscopy as staph grow as grape-like clusters and strep grow in chains or pairs.

However ...

If my microtech was this silly

I would tell him/her to use CATALASE test

Oh yeah - given it's from a throat culture I would be aware of the higher likelyhood that it would be Strep (Catalase negative)