Full text loading...
Abstract
SUMMARY: Pure cultures of Spirillum serpens grown on solid medium contained variants of very diverse morphological appearance; these were relatively straight rods, and branched coccobacillary and coccal forms. Flagella were in the normal lopho-trichous arrangement, peritrichous, single or absent. Some forms possessed characters resembling those of the hyphomicrobia. The development of Rhodomicrobium in cultures of photosynthetic spirilla was also observed. It is suggested, not only that the spirilla possess potentialities consistent with a suggested role as the ancestral bacterial type, but also that Rhodomicrobium may be a growth form of a photosynthetic spirillum. Appearances found in the parasitic Hyphomonas polymorpha and in certain pleuropneumonia-like organisms were considered to support this concept.
- Received:
- Published Online: