CHARACTERIZATION OF STREPTOMYCES SPECIES 



IS!) 



si rains of both species differed cytologically. 

 The spines of the first seemed to be pan of 

 the cell wall, whereas the spines of the sec- 

 ond seemed to l>e very superficial, appearing 

 only on the envelope. It was concluded that 

 spine formation is a stable characteristic of 

 the spores. The shape of tlie spores varied 

 with tlie composition of the medium. It was 

 suggested that complex organic media he 

 avoided for spore study. 



COLONY STRTN TURE 



The nature of the Streptomyces colony 

 growing on a standard agar plate has been 

 considered as among the important criteria 

 for characterizing and recognizing a particu- 

 lar organism. One may question, however, 

 the significance of this property in describing 

 a species. The morphology of the colony, 

 notably its general appearance, size, shape, 

 and texture, can all he readily determined 

 by superficial examination. Various other 

 properties may he recognized from a study 

 of the colony. Krainsky used the structure 

 of the colony, especially its size and shape, 

 as one of the major diagnostic criteria. 



The superficial examination of gross col- 

 ony structure, particularly its texture, can 

 he of some help. Pridham* and others have 

 noted the following very general correlations: 



1. Straight to Hexuous cultures generally 

 are flat with a velvety, granular, or powdery 

 texture. 



'_'. hoop cultures generally are flat with a 

 velvety to slightly granular texture. 



:;. Spiral cultures generally are elevated 

 with a somewhat floccose texture. Occasion- 

 ally, spiral cultures that are flat with a vel- 

 vety or granular texture may he seen. In 

 spiral cultures that are somewhat floccose 

 the sporulating aerial mycelium often con- 

 sists of long sterile hyphae with sporophores 

 branched oppositely, singly, or sometimes in 

 an apparent verticillate fashion. 



' Persona] communication. 



Figure is. Sclerotium formation in Strepto- 

 myces (Prepared by H. Lechevalier, Institute <>!' 

 Microbiology). 



Figure 1!). Sclerotium in species of Strepto 

 myces, designated as new genus Chainia by Thir 

 umalachar (Prepared by II. Lechevalier, Institute 

 of Microbiology). 



4. Verticillate culture- generally are ele- 

 vated and floccose. Aherrant verticillate cul- 

 tures generally are flat with a velvety tex- 

 ture. 



