- Volume 28, Issue 3, 1978

Cell walls of Corynebacterium genitalium (three strains) were analyzed for their content of neutral sugars, amino acids, amino sugars, and corynomycolates. Analyses of the walls of a strain of C. xerosis, a bona fide member of the genus, were effected for purposes of control. Walls of each of the four strains contained arabinose, galactose and alanine, glutamic acid, and diaminopimelic acid in similar molar ratios, as well as corynomycolic acids ranging from 32 to 36 in numbers of carbon atoms. This confirmed that they are Corynebacterium species. However, distinct differences in cell wall composition were found between C. xerosis and the strains of C. genitalium.

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) homologies among 26 strains of bacteria including representative type species of the genera Caulobacter, Asticcacaulis, and Prosthecobacter were determined by DNA/DNA reassociation in solution with S1 endonuclease for removing unpaired structures. The relatedness of the strains observed by this procedure are discussed together with previous findings made from numerical taxonomy and phage typing studies.

Morphological and physiological characteristics of 13 non-orange coryneforms isolated from the rinds of soft cheeses were compared with 23 coryneforms (12 soil isolates identified as arthrobacters and 22 activated-sludge isolates). The cheese strains can be differentiated from the arthrobacters mainly by their physiological features, which correlate well with differences in the amino acid and sugar compositions of the cell walls of the two groups of organisms: meso-diaminopimelic acid and arabinose are present in the cell walls of the non-orange cheese coryneforms and lysine and glucose are present in the cell walls of the soil arthrobacters. The non-orange cheese coryneforms contain corynomycolic acids, indicating a certain relationship with corynebacteria. From these and earlier studies on morphology and physiology and from hybridization experiments and deoxyribonucleic acid base composition determinations on the non-orange cheese coryneforms, it is concluded that these organisms belong to a new genus and species, for which the names Caseobacter and C. polymorphus, respectively, are proposed. Strain AC 256 is designated the type strain of C. polymorphus.

Highly mucoid, cream, pink and yellow-brown gliding organisms having deoxyribonucleic acid guanine-plus-cytosine contents of 62 to 70.1 mol% have been isolated by several workers, but since these organisms have never been observed to produce typical myxobacterial fruiting bodies, their taxonomy has been problematical. Forty-six isolates were studied in detail, among them Ensign and Wolfe’s organism AL-1 and Cook’s isolate 495, both of which produce important proteases, as well as Cook’s culture 3C, which elaborates the potent, wide-spectrum antibiotic myxin. A new genus, Lysobacter, has been established for these organisms, and four new species and one new subspecies have been named and described: L. antibioticus (type strain, ATCC 29479), L. brunescens (type strain, ATCC 29482), L. enzymogenes (type strain, ATCC 29487), L. enzymogenes subspecies cookii Christensen (type strain, ATCC 29488), and L. gummosus (type strain, ATCC 29489). The dimensions of the thin, gliding, flexing cells of Lysobacter are 0.3 to 0.5 by 1.0 to 15.0 (sometimes up to 70) μm. These soil and water organisms all degrade chitin, two degrade alginate, three degrade pectate, three degrade carboxymethylcellulose, and one degrades starch, but none decomposes filter paper or agar. They are strongly proteolytic and characteristically lyse a variety of microorganisms such as gram-negative, gram-positive (including actinomycetes), and blue-green bacteria, fungi, and green algae, as well as nematodes. The genus has been placed in a new family, Lysobacteraceae, within a new order, Lysobacterales.

The neutral solvent-extractable lipids and the residual bound lipids of Pseudomonas pertucinogena were analyzed. The major components of the extractable lipid fraction were phosphatidylethanolamine, cardiolipin, phosphatidylglycerol, and lysocardiolipin. The high cardiolipin content was a characteristic feature. Various fatty acids were detected in the extractable lipids, the major acids being hexadecanoic and octadecenoic. The fatty acid compositions of individual phospholipids were also determined. The fatty acids of the bound lipids, which differed distinctly from those of the extractable lipids, were mainly (80%) 3-hydroxy acids (3-hydroxydecanoic acid, 3-hydroxyundecanoic acid, 3-hydroxyisoundecanoic acid, 3-hydroxydodecanoic acid, and 3-hydroxypentadecanoic acid); the remainder (20%) were saturated fatty acids including dodecanoic acid and tridecanoic acid. The amino sugar in lipid A, which was the lipid fraction of the lipopolysaccharide, was identified as glucosamine. The present findings provide additional support for the recognition of P. pertucinogena as a distinct species of the genus Pseudomonas, even though the strains placed in this species had long been accepted as members of Bordetella pertussis and produce a bacteriocin active against phase I strains of B. pertussis.

The morphological, cultural, physiological, and biochemical characteristics of a new actinomycete are described. The organism is distinctive because of the absence of aerial mycelium and the presence of glycine and LL-diaminopimelic acid in its cell wall. The mycelium bore numerous round-to-pyriform sporangia, each of which contained a single zoospore. The strain could not be classified in any of the previously named genera of the Actinomycetales, and it is therefore considered to be a member of a new genus, for which the name Kineosporia is proposed. The type species (monotype) of this genus is K. aurantiaca sp. nov., so named because of its orange color when grown on agar media. The type strain of K. aurantiaca is A/10312 (=ATCC 29727).

A new species of bacteria is described for which the name Streptomyces inusitatus is proposed. The organism is characterized by a blue mass of aerial mycelium, coiled spore chains, spores with smooth surfaces, and a nonchromogenic vegetative mycelium. The type strain of S. inusitatus is strain T-41575 (=IFO 13601).

A detailed amended description of Haemophilus segnis Kilian 1977 based on an examination of 22 strains, including the type strain, is presented. Included is information on ultrastructural characteristics, biochemical activities, fermentation end products, and deoxyribonucleic acid base composition.

Three strains of hydrogen-utilizing bacteria were found to constitute a new species which we propose to assign to the genus Alcaligenes with the name Alcaligenes latus sp. nov. The phenotypic properties of this species are described, and a minor modification of the definition of Alcaligenes is proposed. The type strain is A. latus strain H-4 (=ATCC 29712).

All Acholeplasma species can incorporate acetate radioactivity into their lipids, and have reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide oxidase activity localized in membrane fractions. No Mycoplasma species tested possesses these properties.

A new species of the genus Pichia has been recovered 38 times in the Sonoran Desert from “rot pockets” of cereoid cacti and from Drosophila species which utilize the cacti. We have named the species Pichia amethionina due to its absolute requirement for methionine or cysteine. P. amethionina is heterothallic and demonstrates an agglutination reaction when opposite mating types are mixed. Two varieties are designated based on the combination of mannitol assimilation and ecological habitat. P. amethionina var. amethionina, the type variety, was recovered from cacti in the subtribe Stenocereinae and cannot assimilate mannitol, whereas P. amethionina var. pachycereana was found in cacti of the subtribe Pachycereinae and can assimilate mannitol. Results are given which demonstrate that the assimilation of mannitol is controlled by a single genetic locus. An evaluation of the interfertility and postmating viability among the two varieties and possibly identical organisms was made. The base composition of the nuclear deoxyribonucleic acid (average of 10 strains) is 33.05 ± 0.19 mol% guanine plus cytosine. The type strain of P. amethionina and of the type variety, P. amethionina var. amethionina, is UCD-FST 76-401B (=ATCC 36080 = CBS 6940). The type strain of P. amethionina var. pachycereana is UCD-FST 76-384A (=ATCC 36079 = CBS 6943).