Final answer:
Bile salts disrupt the phospholipid bilayers of bacterial cell membranes, causing osmotic lysis. Enterococcus faecalis is tolerant to bile due to its natural habitat in the gastrointestinal tract. Therefore, among the listed organisms, Enterococcus faecalis is the most likely to withstand the lysing effect of bile salts.
Step-by-step explanation:
Bile salts, such as sodium deoxycholate, have antimicrobial properties due to their ability to disrupt cell membranes, particularly of certain bacteria. Among the choices provided, Enterococcus faecalis is known for its ability to tolerate high concentrations of bile, primarily because it typically resides in the digestive tract where it is exposed to bile. This characteristic also makes E. faecalis capable of surviving in Bile Esculin Agar, which contains bile salts that inhibit the growth of organisms like Staphylococcus epidermidis and Streptococcus pyogenes, which are mostly Gram-positive bacteria not as adept at surviving in bile-rich environments. Additionally, bile salts may cause lysis of cells by acting as detergents that disrupt the phospholipid bilayer of bacterial membranes, leading to osmotic lysis.
While Escherichia coli (E. coli) is also resilient to bile salts due to its presence in the gut, it is not the organism listed that is specifically known for its ability to grow in the presence of high concentrations of bile like Enterococcus faecalis. Therefore, based on the information provided, the correct answer to which organism among the listed would not be lysed by bile salts, including sodium deoxycholate, would be d) Enterococcus faecalis.