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THE ACTINOMYCETES, Vol. II 



Potato: Soluble pigment brown. 



Gelatin: Rapid liquefaction. 



Milk: Coagulation and peptonization. 



Starch: Hydrolysis. 



Cellulose: No growth. 



Nitrate reduction: Rapid. 



Sucrose: Inversion. 



Production of H 2 S: Positive. 



Antagonistic properties: Weak. 



Habitat: Rhizosphere of wheat grown in a 

 salinized soil. 



Remarks: ,4. verticiUatus viridans was de- 

 scribed by Krassilnikov (1941) as a substrain 

 of this organism. 



239. Streptomyces violaceoniger (Waksman 

 and Curtis, 1916) Waksman and Henrici, 

 1948 (Waksman, S. A. and Curtis, R. E. 

 SoilSci. 1: 111, 1916). 



Synonym: S. violaceus-niger. 



Morphology: The sporogenous hyphae are 

 frequently sterile. Sporophores monopodially 

 branched. Waksman and Curtis (1916) re- 

 ported no spirals, but Ettlinger et al. (1958) 

 found compact spirals. Spores spherical and 

 oval, 1.2 to 1.5 by 1.2 to 2.3 n, smooth (PI. 

 II n). 



Sucrose nitrate agar: Growth at first dark 

 gray, turning almost black. Aerial mycelium 

 white to gray after the colony is well de- 

 veloped. Soluble pigment at first bluish, later 

 turning almost black. 



Potato: Growth at first very slight, but 

 after 48 hours develops into continuous, 

 thick yellowish-gray smear, which later 

 turns brown, with white aerial mycelium 

 covering the growth. Melanin-negative. 



Gelatin: Growth gray; no aerial mycelium. 

 Liquefaction rapid. No change in color. 



Production of H 2 S: Negative. 



Antagonistic properties: Produces anti- 

 biotic nigericin. 



Habitat: Soil. 



Remarks: According to Ettlinger et al. 

 (1948) the color of the aerial mycelium is 

 carmine-red to cinnamon-brown; with age, 

 t he aerial mycelium liquefies and turns black. 



This organism was believed to belong to the 

 S. hygroscopicus group. Nomi (1960) came 

 to similar conclusions. 



240. Streptomyces violaceoruber (Waks- 

 man and Curtis, 1916) Waksman (Waksman, 

 S. A. and Curtis, R, E. Soil Sci. 1: 110-111, 

 1916; 8: 160-163, 1919). 



This organism has an interesting history. 

 In the original description of Waksman and 

 Curtis (1916), it was listed in the text (p. 

 110) as A. violaceus, the word "ruber" being 

 left out due to poor proof-reading; in the 

 key, however (p. 130), as well as in the 

 following paper by Waksman (1919), in 

 which a complete description was given, it was 

 correctly listed as A. violaceus-ruber . The 

 above error was unfortunately repeated in 

 the first and second (p. 374) editions of 

 Bergey's Manual. In the third edition of this 

 manual (1930), Bergey himself changed the 

 name of this organism to Actinomyces Waks- 

 manii (p. 489). In the fourth and fifth (p. 

 867) editions, it was changed to Actinomyces 

 coelicolor (Miiller) Lieske, and finally in the 

 sixth and seventh editions to Streptomyces 

 coelicolor (Miiller) Waksman and Henrici. 

 Only the recent studies in which both or- 

 ganisms, S. coelicolor Miiller and S. violaceo- 

 ruber Waksman and Curtis, were directly 

 compared (Kutzner, 1956; Zahner and 

 Ettlinger, 1957; Kutzner and Waksman, 

 L959) demonstrated that they are distinctly 

 different. 



There are marked physiological and bio- 

 chemical differences between S. coelicolor 

 and S. violaceoruber. They particularly in- 

 clude differences in color and morphology of 

 the aerial mycelium, antagonistic properties, 

 and pigment production. S. coelicolor is ac- 

 tive upon fungi and yeasts, as first shown by 

 Miiller; several strains of S. violaceoruber 

 produce antibacterial antibiotics, such as 

 actinorhodin, coelicolorin, and mycetin. The 

 pigment of S. coelicolor changes to green at 

 an alkaline reaction, that of S. violaceoruber 

 to blue. The nature of the pigment has been 



