From a collection of several hundred strains of bacteria from marine sources were selected 57 for determination of DNA base composition. Each strain is classified as to Na+ requirement, flagellation, somatic shape and aggregation, nature of carbohydrate metabolism, and mol % GC in the DNA. Other phenotypic characteristics did not show any apparent correlation with the mol % GC and are not included.
Typical marine bacteria with polar flagella, without somatic aggregation, showed a mol % GC in the same 40 to 50 range as phenotypically similar terrestrial (non-marine) types of the genus Vibrio, but distinctly lower than the comparable terrestrial types in the genera Aeromonas and Pseudomonas. The mol % GC of the peritrichous flagellate group of marine origin (few of which were typically marine) was distinctly higher (49–67) than that of the phenotypically similar polar flagellate marine group but only slightly lower, if any, than phenotypically similar terrestrial types such as Agrobacterium spp., Alcaligenes spp., etc.
A general statement may be made that among bacteria of marine origin: 1) the nonaggregating polar flagellate group showed a lower mol % GC than corresponding peritrichous flagellate group; 2) bacteria with the higher Na+ requirement in general showed a lower mol % G C.
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