60 



THE ACTINOMYCETES, Vol. II 



Temperature: Growth best at 25-28°C; 

 inhibited at 32°C; none or very scant at 

 37°C. 



Antibiotic activity: None. 



Habitat : Causes formation of bud-prolifer- 

 ating galls on blueberry plants. 



Type culture: ATCC 11,092. 



58. Nocardia variabilis (Cohn, 1913) Waks- 

 man (Cohn, T. Centr. Bakteriol. Parasitenk. 

 Grig. 70: 290-306, 1913). 



Morphology: Cells initially filamentous, 

 breaking up into rods and cocci. Nonacid- 

 fast . 



Agar media: Colonies round, smooth and 

 lustrous, sometimes nodular; light brownish 

 in color to orange-yellow. Colonies attached 

 fast to the agar and partly removed with 

 some effort. 



Gelatin: Growth orange-yellow. No lique- 

 faction. 



Milk: Surface pellicle gradually becoming 

 light orange. No coagulation; no peptoniza- 

 tion. 



Broth: Colorless surface pellicle, readily 

 dropping to bottom. Medium remains clear. 



Temperature: Optimum 37°C; good 

 growth at 42°C; weak growth at 45°C. 



Potato: Growth thin, colorless, becoming 

 in time yellow to orange-red; finally brown. 



Blood media: Xo hemolysis. 



Oxygen demand: Markedly aerobic. 



Habitat: Isolated from bladder of cystitis 

 cases in man. Pathogenic to guinea pigs. 



Remarks: Said to be similar to .4. ochroleu- 

 cus, A . ochraceus, and A. carneus of Neukirch 

 (1902). According to Krassilnikov (1949), it 

 is closely related to N. africana. 



59. Nocardia viridis (Krassilnikov, 1938) 

 Waksman and Benrici, 1948 (Krassilnikov, 



N. A. Bull. Acad. Sci. USSR. Xo. 1: 139, 

 1938; Guide to the identification of bacteria 

 and actinomycetes. Moskau, 1949). 



Morphology: Growth dark green in color. 

 Colonies of doughy consistency on certain 

 media (wort agar, potato), and compact on 

 others (nutrient). Pigment insoluble in 

 medium and in organic solvents. On protein 

 media, cells develop to form a thin mycelium 

 without visible cross walls. Cells often 

 branching, 0.7 to 0.8 m in diameter, with 

 cross wall. After 5 to 7 days the cells break 

 up into rods 5 to 15 fi long. Cocci not ob- 

 served. Cells multiply by fission, seldom by 

 budding. Xo aerial mycelium. Gram-posi- 

 tive. Xot acid-fast. 



Nutrient agar: Growth compact. Thin 

 mycelium produced. 



Potato: Growth rough, much folded. 



Gelatin liquefaction: Slow or none. 



Milk: Xo coagulation; no peptonization; 

 some reports of positive peptonization. 



Starch: Xot hydrolyzed. Spalla (1939) re- 

 ported positive hydrolysis. 



Sucrose: Xot inverted. 



Nitrate reduction: None. 



Paraffin and fats: Growth good; less on 

 wax. 



Cellulose: Xo growth. 



Habitat: Soil. 



Davis and Freer (1960) described as a new 

 species N. salivae, an aerobic actinomycete 

 isolated regularly from the human mouth. 

 Strains of this species are characterized by 

 their saccharolytic power, which thus distin- 

 guishes them from the typical soil nocardias 

 (see also von Magnus, 1947; Howell et ah, 

 1959). Birsch (1960) described N. saturnea, 

 an aerobic organism occurring in dust and 

 capable of utilizing petroleum. 



