l'II\SI()L(KiV 



125 



as a sourco ot ('("llulosc can 1)(> usi^d to 

 (UMUoiistratc this capacity. Krainsky t'ouiul 

 tliat certain piiinicnlcd (ailtnrcs arc par- 

 titailarly activi' in (hH-oniposinj!; cclinlosc. 

 Black or \vd rinf;s ar(> toi-nicd on the i)apei-; 

 on a^ar i)late, clear rinti's ai'e prixhiced hy 

 tlie colony, inthcat ini:; cellulose (leconi|)osi- 

 tion. 



When lilter paper is placed in \(>ssels coii- 

 taininj; a synthetic solution, with annno- 

 niuni salt oi' nitrate as a source of nitrojj;en, 

 and some calcium carbonate, and inocailated 

 with \-arious (adtur{>s, many of the cultures 

 will he found »>;rowin<>; on the paper above 

 the surface of the medium. When the resid- 

 ual cellulose is determined, a definite ratio 

 will be found to exist between the cellulose 

 decomposed and the nitrogen assimilated. 



Meyer isolated a strong cellulose-de- 

 composing culture of an actinomycete that 

 produced a green pigment and an earthy 

 odor. It is difhcult to tell from the descrip- 

 tion whether this organism was a strepto- 

 myces or a micromonospora. 



Jagnow reported a widespread capacity of 

 soil actinomycetes to utilize chitin, both as 

 a carbon and as a nitrogen source. None was 

 able to utilize keratin, however. Jagnow 

 found that about 50 per cent of all the 

 freshly isolated cultures of streptomycetes, 

 notably members of the S. albus, S. griseus, 

 S. (liastaticus, and S. antibioticus groups were 

 able to attack chitin. Hunmi and Sheppard 

 isolated from marine sources three actino- 

 mycetes: S. marinus, N. flava, and A^. 

 atlantica. Each of them was capable of di- 

 gesting agar. Both nocardias produced or- 

 ganic acids from cai'l)ohydrates more ac- 

 tively than did the streptomyces. The latter 

 utilized organic acids more readily than did 

 either of the nocardias, and therefore its 

 failure to produce an acid reaction in carbo- 

 hydrate media may be ascribed tentatively 

 to coincidental utilization of any organic 

 acids formed din-ing decomposition of the 

 carbohvd rates. 



Tabi.k 26 



]li hilxiln- flidiK/cs (tnd cfficiiiicji tif rmlion 



iilllizdlion hi/ S. I;iv('n(liil;ie (WoodnilT 



unci Foster) 



Tryptone 



.M\ (•(■liuiii, dry weight, mg 



( iliicosc coiLsumed, mg 



NH i \ ii he rated, ing 



Nil rogcii coiniiounds dc'iiuiiialcd, '.12 



mg 

 l,a('tic acid produced, mg 

 N'olatile acid as acetic, mg 

 Conversion of glucose to lactic 



iicid, % 

 Conversion of gl\cine to acetic 



acid, % 

 Efficiency of carbon utilization, % 



101 



488 

 1 



126 

 4 

 25.8 



Glycine 



24.8 



106 



782 

 22 

 102 



58 

 13 

 7.5 



10.3 



14.3 



Utilization of Unusual Carbon Compounds 



Many actinomycetes, notably nocardias, 

 show a i)redilectioii for lumsual types of 

 carbon compounds as sources of energy. This 

 is true of phenols (Gray and Thornton, 

 1028), pyridine (von Horvath, 1943; Moore, 

 1949), pyrimidines (Lara, J 952), glycerides 

 (Perlman and Langlykke), and steroids 

 (Turfitt, 1947), chlorine-containing aro- 

 matic compounds such as p-dichlorbenzene 

 (Erikson, 1941) and chlorohemin (Jensen 

 and Thofern), paraffins (Haag, 1927; Jensen, 

 1931-19:54; Krassilnikov, 193S; T'mbreit, 



^'i 36 



TIME , HOURS 



FKiiHio 50. l':tVect of added KoHPOj on nucleic 

 acid synthesis by S. aurcofnciens (Reproduced 

 from: Hifh, (!. et al. Appl. Microbiol. 2: 291, 1954). 



