FAMILY IV. PSEUDOMONADACEAE 



185 



B. Do not utilize ammonium salts as a sole source of nitrogen. 



1. Forms a thick, zoogloeal, cellulose membrane on the surface of liquid media. 



2. Acetobacter xylinum. 



2. Do not form a thick, zoogloeal, cellulose membrane on the surface of liquid media. 



3. Acetobacter rancens. 



3a. Acetobacter pasteurianus . 

 3b. Acetobacter kuetzingianus . 

 II. Do not oxidize acetic acid. 



A. Form pigments in glucose media. 



1. Dark brown to blackish pigment. 



4. Acetobacter melanogenus. 



2. Pink to rose pigment. 



5. Acetobacter roseus. 



B. Do not form pigments. 



1. Optimum temperature, between 30° and 35° C. 



6. Acetobacter suboxydans. 



2. Optimum temperature, between 18° and 21° C. 



7. Acetobacter oxydans. 



1. Acetobacter aceti (Beijerinck, 1898) 

 Beijerinck, 1900. (Mycodermes, Pasteur 

 Compt. rend. Acad. Sci., Paris, 54, 1862 

 265; Pasteur, ibid., 55, 1862, 28; Mycoderma 

 aceti Pasteur, Ann. Sci. d. Ecole Normal 

 superiore, 1, 1864, 103-158; Bacterium aceti 

 Beijerinck, Cent. f. Bakt., II Abt., 4, 15 

 211; Acetobacter aceti Beijerinck, published 

 as a synonym in Krai's Sammlung v. Mikro 

 org., Prague, 1898, 7; Beijerinck, Proc. Kon 

 Akad. V. Wetensch., Amsterdam, 2, 1900 

 503.) 



a.ce'ti. L. noun acetum vinegar; L. gen 

 noun aceti of vinegar. 



Beijerinck's description of this organism 

 which forms the basis of the description 

 given here, is based on Pasteur's earlier de 

 scription.* 



Rods, 0.4 to 0.8 by 1.0 to 2.0 microns, oc 

 curring singly and in long chains, frequently 

 showing large club-shaped forms. Stain yel 

 low with iodine solution. Motility variable 

 Motile cells possess a single polar flagellum 

 (Vaughn, Jour. Bact., 46, 1943, 394). 



Beer gelatin containing 10 per cent su- 

 crose: Large, shiny colonies are formed. 



Liquid media: Forms slimy pellicle; may 

 also form a ring or turbidity without pel- 

 licle. 



Acid from glucose, ethanol, propanol and 

 glycol. No acid from arabinose, fructose, 

 galactose, sorbose, sucrose, maltose, lactose, 

 raffinose, dextrin, starch, glycogen, inulin, 

 methanol, isopropanol, butanol, isobutanol, 

 pentanol, glj'cerol, erythritol, mannitol, 

 dulcitol or acetaldehyde (Henneberg, Die 

 deutsch. Essigind., 2, 1898, 147). 



Distinctive characters : Marked oxidative 

 power causing rapid and complete oxidation 

 of substrate such as glucose or ethyl alcohol ; 

 ability to utilize inorganic nitrogen salts as 

 a sole source of nitrogen (Hoyer, Inaug. 

 Diss., Leiden, 1898, 43; Beijerinck, Cent. f. 

 Bakt., II Abt., 4, 1898, 215); growth and 

 oxidative activity in association with fer- 

 menting yeasts (Vaughn, Jour. Bact., 36, 

 1938, 360). 



Optimum temperature, 30° C. Growth 

 occurs between 10° and 42° C. 



Habitat: Vinegar, souring fruits, vege- 

 tables and beverages. 



other required nutrients (Stokes and Karsen, Jour. Bact., 49, 1945, 495; Foda and Vaughn, 

 Jour. Bact., 65, 1953,79). 



* Beijerinck (op. cit., 4, 1898, 211) explains the relationship of Pasteur's organism to 

 those described by others as follows: "Two of the many varieties of B. (Bacterium) rancens 

 have been described by Henneberg under the names B. oxydans and B. acetosum. Hansen 

 erroneously named this species B. aceti as did Brown also. Neither Hansen nor Brown 

 knew B. aceti of Pasteur." 



