Fifty strains of red-pigmented, gram-positive, nonfermentative micrococci were studied, including organisms from diverse collections identified as Micrococcus roseus, M. agilis, “Sarcina erythromyxa,” “M. radiodurans,” “M. radiophilus,” and “M. radioproteolyticus” and miscellaneous unidentified strains usually labelled M. roseus (names in quotation marks are not on the Approved Lists of Bacterial Names, Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 30:225-420, 1980). Although similar in physiological attributes (negative characters predominated), the cell wall structural profiles separated M. roseus and M. agilis (simple homogeneous profile) from “M. radiodurans” and the radiation-resistant group (complex, multilayered profile). Simple reactions (growth in 5% NaCl broth, growth at 37°C, and nitrate reduction) distinguished M. roseus from M. agilis, and acid production from glucose and other sugars distinguished “M. radioproteolyticus” from the rest. The members of the “M. radiodurans” group could be typified by physiological reactions but not with great reliability. Gas-liquid chromatography of extracted lipids showed that veritable M. roseus and M. agilis strains had at least 50% of fatty acids in the form of 15:0 branched chains. “M. radiodurans” and the rest had straight chains with a 16:1 component which formed at least 25% of total fatty acids and which was not possessed by M. roseus or M. agilis. Further studies were based on representative strains of clusters derived from the above-mentioned tests. Zymograms for nonspecific esterases and chromatograms of extracted pigments showed no identical patterns for any 2 of 10 strains. Absorption spectra for pigments had maxima at 450 to 510 nm. The guanine plus cytosine contents of the deoxyribonucleic acids ranged from 62 to 74 mol%: The M. roseus-M. agilis cluster was <69 mol%, and the radiation-resistant cluster was < 71 mol%. There was little deoxyribonucleic acid homology between M. roseus and M. agilis (8%) or among any of the rest (< 21%). The named radiation-resistant species showed <18% homology to each other, but alignments were detected in the miscellaneous group. Ribosomal ribonucleic acid (16S) cataloguing showed that “M. radiodurans,” “M. radiophilus,” and one of the miscellaneous radiation-resistant strains were related (SAB = 0.51 to 0.63) but that they had as little oligonucleotide similarity to M. luteus and M. roseus (SAB = 0.23) as they all did to Escherichia coli. It is concluded that “M. radiodurans” and its relatives are not species of Micrococcus and that they represent clones that separated from the main stem early in procaryotic evolution. There are at least five such species: “M. radiodurans,” “M. radiophilus,” “M. radioproteolyticus,” “M. erythromyxa” (Sarcina erythromyxa), and one other unnamed.
AndersonA. W.,
NordanH. C.,
CainR. F.,
ParrishG.,
DugganD.1956; Studies on a radio-resist-ant micrococcus. I. The isolation, morphology, cultural characteristics and resistance to gamma radiation. Food Technol 10:575–577
Baird-ParkerA. C.1974; Part 14, Gram-positive cocci, Family I Micrococcaceae. p 478–489InBuchananR. E.,
GibbonsN. E.
(ed.) Bergey’s manual of determinative bacteriology, 8th ed. The Williams & Wilkins Co.; Baltimore:
BolingM. E.,
SetlowJ. K.1966; The resistance of Micrococcus radiodurans to ultraviolet radiation. III. A repair mechanism. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 123:26–33
ChelmB. K.,
HallickR. B.1976; Changes in the expression of chloroplast genome of Euglena gracilis during chloroplast development. Biochemistry 15:543–549
CrosaJ. H.,
BrennerD. J.,
FalkowS.1973; Use of a single-strand specific nuclease for analysis of bacterial and plasmid deoxyribonucleic acid homo-and heteroduplexes. J. Bacteriol. 115:904–911
DaviesB. H.1976; Analysis of carotenoid pigments. p 489–532InGoodwinT. W.
(ed.) Chemistry and biochemistry of plant pigments Academic Press, Inc.; New York:
FoxG. E.,
PechmanK. R.,
WoeseC. R.1977; Comparative cataloging of 16S ribosomal ribonucleic acid: molecular approach to procaryotic systematics. Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 27:44–57
JantzenE.,
BerganT.,
BovreK.1974; Gas chro matography of bacterial whole cell methanolysates. VI. Fatty acid composition of strains within Micrococcaceae.. Acta Pathol. Microbiol. Scand 82:785–798
JohnsonJ. L.1978; Taxonomy of Bacteroides. I. DNA homologies among Bacteroides fragilis and other sac-charolytic Bacteroides species. Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 28:245–256
JohnsonJ. L.,
CumminsC. S.1972; Cell wall composition and deoxyribonucleic acid similarities among the anaerobic coryneforms, classical proprioni-bacteria, and strains of Arachnia proprionia.. J. Bacteriol. 109:1047–1066
KobatakeM.,
TamabeS.,
HasegawaS.1973; Nouveau micrococcus radioresistant a pigment rouge, isole de feces de Lama glama, et son utilisation comme indicateur microbiologique de la radiosterilisation. C.R. Seances Soc. Biol. Paris 167:1506–1510
LancyP.Jr.,
MurrayR. G. E.1978; The envelope of Micrococcus radiodurans: isolation, purification and preliminary analysis of the wall layers. Can. J. Microbiol 24:162–176
MoseleyB. E. B.,
CoplandH. J. R.1975; Isolation and properties of recombination-deficient mutants of Micrococcus radiodurans.. J. Bacteriol. 121:422–428
MoseleyB. E. B.,
MattinglyA.,
ShimminM.1972; Isolation and some properties of temperature-sensitive mutants of M. radiodurans defective in DNA synthesis. J. Gen. Microbiol. 70:399–409
RajH. D.,
DuryeeF. L.,
DeeneyA. M.,
WangC. H.,
AndersonA. W.,
EllikerP. R.1960; Utilization of carbohydrates and amino acids by Micrococcus radiodurans.. Can. J. Microbiol 6:289–298
RyterA.,
KellenbergerE.1958; Etude au microscope electronique de plasmas contenant de l’acide de-soxyribonucleique. I. Les nucleoids des bacteries en croissance active. Z. Naturforsch. Teil B 13:597–605
SandersS. W.,
MaxcyR. B.1979; Patterns of cell division, DNA base compositions, and fine structures of some radiation-resistant vegetative bacteria found in food. Appl. Environ. Microbiol 37:159–168
SleytrU. B.,
KocurM.,
GlauertA. M.,
ThomleyM. J.1973; A study by freeze-etching of the fine structure of Micrococcus radiodurans.. Arch. Mikro-biol 94:77–87
SleytrU. B.,
SilvaM. T.,
KocurM.,
LewisN. F.1976; The fine structure of Micrococcus radiophilus and Micrococcus radioproteolyticus.. Arch. Microbiol 107:313–320
TadayonR. A.,
CarrollK. K.,
MurrayR. G. E.1969; Factors affecting the yield and biological activity of lipid extracts of Listeria monocytogenes.. Can. J. Microbiol 15:421–428
WoeseC.,
SoginM.,
StahlD.,
LewisB. J.,
BonenL.1976; A comparison of the 16S ribosomal RNAs from mesophilic and thermophilic bacilli: Some modifications in the Sanger method for RNA sequencing. J. Mol. Evol 7:197–213
YinE. T.,
GalanosC.,
KrinskyS.,
BradshawR. A.,
WesslerS.,
LuderitzO.,
SarmientoM. E.1972; Picogram-sensitive assay for endotoxin: gelation of Lim-ulus polyphemus blood cell lysate induced by purified lipopolysaccharides and lipid A from gram-negative bacteria. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 261:284–289
ZimmermanR. J.,
KloosW. E.1976; Comparative zone electrophoresis of esterases of Staphylococcus species isolated from mammalian skin. Can. J. Microbiol 22:771–779