1 6. Acetobacter 



Nine cultures of Acetobacter were received from W. B. Haynes 

 of the U.S.D.A. in Peoria, Illinois; nine cultures from Prof. Frateur 

 of Louvain University in Belgium; one culture from C. B, van 

 Niel, University of California; one culture from ATCC; and 

 one culture from J. L. Shimwell, British Vinegars Ltd. Of these 

 twenty-one cultures, six were motile and flagellated. All were 

 typical of the genus. 



Flagellar Characteristics 



Acetobacter strains are often nonmotile and those which show 

 motility are usually poorly flagellated even under the most favor- 

 able growth conditions. A fairly satisfactory medium is glucose- 

 peptone-yeast extract broth at pH 6, incubated at 20° C. On 

 centrifugation the organisms tend to clump and few individual 

 bacteria are likely to be found on the slides. The flagella, how- 

 ever, stain readily. 



The six motile cultures in the collection showed peritrichous 

 flagellation. The shape of the flagella varied considerably among 

 the different strains. In some the flagella were mainly of the 

 coiled type with long but very irregular wavelength of 3-4 microns. 

 In other cultures the flagella were more uniform in shape with 

 wavelengths for example of 2.36 microns for Acetobacter aceti, 

 F-4; 2.21 microns for Acetobacter orleanense, B-55; and 1.82 mi- 

 crons for Acetobacter aceti, Shimwell. The Shimwell culture was 

 somewhat different from the others in being much better flagel- 

 lated, showed less clumping, and having flagella of shorter wave- 

 length and smaller ampHtude than the others (Fig. 18). 



1 7. Xyntotnonas 



Through the courtesy of J. L. Shimwell one culture of Zijmo- 

 monas (SaccJuiromonas) anaerobia was received from Bristol Uni- 

 versity in England. A culture of Fseudomonas {Zijmomonas) lind- 

 neri obtained from Dr. Haynes was nonflagellated. Another species 

 of this genus, Zijmomonus mobile, was not obtained. These bac- 

 teria are often referred to in industry as cider sickness organisms. 



Flagellar Characteristics 

 The one culture of Zijmomonas anaerobia from Bristol Univer- 

 sity showed organisms with a tuft of polar flagella of wavelength 

 averaging 2.5 microns (Fig. 19). No variants were observed. 



46 



