Carbohydrate utilization tests provided
useful information on the phenotypic diversity and revealed 22
different profiles. Most of the profiles were atypical for
S. thermophilus strains, and only 7 of the strains were found to be
very similar to S. thermophilus type-strain. Comparison of PFGE
homology groups with carbohydrate utilization profiles didn’t give
any overlap and revealed the presence of further phenotypic heterogeneity
within PFGE homology groups.