Table 4: O serotype-based grouping and the number of the colonies randomly selected from the agar plates inoculated with the starting mix (without IMS)

Table 4: O serotype-based grouping and the number of the colonies randomly selected from the agar plates inoculated with the starting mix (without IMS) and the solution or the suspension remaining in each of the four wells after PickPen-IMS treatment (with IMS).

O serotype-based grouping		Number of the colonies selected ¹:
O serotype-based grouping		Without IMS (Starting mix)	With IMS²
Group	O serotype	Without IMS (Starting mix)	No wash (First well)	First wash (Second well)	Second wash (Third well)	Yield (Fourth well)

Non-target	O143	-	++++	-	-	-
	O166	-	-	-	-	-
	OUT	+	+++	+	+	-
	O126	++	+++	+	-	-
	O6	++	++	+	-	-
	O124	++	++	-	-	-
	Subtotal	24 (33.3 %)	61 (84.7 %)	4 (26.7 %)	4 (19.0 %)	0 (0 %)

Target	O157	+	+	-	-	+++
	O91	++	-	-	+	++++
	O26	+++	+	-	+	+++
	O145	-	-	+	-	+
	O103	+++	+	+	-	+++
	O111	++	++	++	+++	++
	Subtotal	48 (66.7 %)	11 (15.3 %)	11 (73.3 %)	17 (81.0 %)	72 (100 %)

	Total	72	72	15	21	72

¹Designations for the number of the colonies: ? , 0; +, 1 – 5; ++, 6 – 10; +++, 11 – 15; ++++, 16 – 23.
²Designation of the sample solution or suspension is explained in Materials and Methods