Voges-Proskauer test

METPO:1005016 · CLASS · SEEDED

An assay that tests the ability of an organism to produce acetoin from glucose via the butanediol fermentation pathway.

Trait evidence (2)

https://asm.org/getmedia/40946f85-9357-4563-aa8a-994427efa825/Methyl-Red-and-Voges-Proskauer-Test-Protocols.pdf
Bacteria fermenting sugars via the butanediol pathway produce acetoin (i.e., acetyl methyl carbinol or 3-hydroxybutanone) as an intermediate which can be further reduced to 2,3-butanediol.

The ASM protocol links acetoin production directly to sugar fermentation through the butanediol pathway.
https://asm.org/getmedia/40946f85-9357-4563-aa8a-994427efa825/Methyl-Red-and-Voges-Proskauer-Test-Protocols.pdf
In the presence of KOH the intermediate acetoin is oxidized to diacetyl, a reaction which is catalyzed by a-naphthol (2). Diacetyl reacts with the guanidine group associated with molecules contributed by peptone in the medium, to form a pinkish-red-colored product (Fig. 2A).

The same protocol explains that the Voges-Proskauer reaction detects acetoin via Barritt chemistry that forms a pinkish-red product.

Identifier source: METPO (2026-06-12)
Definition source: https://asm.org/getmedia/40946f85-9357-4563-aa8a-994427efa825/Methyl-Red-and-Voges-Proskauer-Test-Protocols.pdf

No kg-microbe node embedding matched this record in the 2026-04-25 deepwalk.

2026-09-12T21:15:14Z · SEEDED_FROM_METPO · seed_from_metpo
imported from data/raw/metpo.owl (CLASS)
2026-09-12T21:15:44Z · ENRICHED_FROM_LITERATURE · codex
Added the METPO Voges-Proskauer-test assay parent with stable-URL butanediol-pathway and acetoin-readout evidence after a repository-wide duplicate review covering ignored and hidden files.