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Abstract
Summary: Some properties of a marine bacterium are described. This organism belongs to a large, but ill-defined, group comprising Gram-negative rods with no apparent action on monosaccharides. It is a polar flagellate, has limited acid tolerance, consistent with its inability to produce acid from sugars and has no constitutive system for metabolizing glucose. A weak inducible system was available, however, which enabled adapted organisms to grow on glucose and use it as a respiratory substrate. The organism also lacks a constitutive citric acid cycle but ability to metabolize succinate was induced by growth on succinate or glucose. It cannot use inorganic nitrogen for growth. Of the compounds examined, amino acids were the most generally satisfactory sources of energy, carbon, and nitrogen. The organism accumulated a relatively large pool of intracellular amino acids which probably contributed largely to its high rate of endogenous respiration. The classification of the bacterium is discussed.
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