476 



ORDER IV. EUBACTERIALES 



Source: Isolated from the blood of a pa- 

 tient suffering from puerperal septicemia. 

 Habitat: Human sources so far as known. 



3. Peptococcus asaccharolyticus (Dis- 

 taso, 1912) Douglas, comb. nov. {Staphylo- 

 coccus asaccharolyticus Distaso, Cent. f. 

 Bakt., I Abt., Orig., 62, 1912, 445; Micro- 

 coccus asaccharolyticus Hall, in Manual, 6th 

 ed., 1948, 246.) 



a.sac.cha.ro.ly'ti.cus. Gr. pref. a not; 

 Gr. noun sacchar sugar; Gr. adj. lyticus 

 able to loose; M.L. adj. asaccharolyticus not 

 digesting sugar. 



Description taken from Prevot (Ann. 

 Sci. Nat., Ser. Bot. et Zool., 15, 1933, 211). 



Large spheres, 1.0 to 1.2 microns in di- 

 ameter, occurring in very large clusters and 

 in pairs and short chains. Gram-positive. 



Gelatin: At 37° C. growth resembles tufts 

 of cotton which precipitate. No liquefac- 

 tion. 



Deep agar colonies: Very delicate, pin- 

 point, transparent. A few bubbles of gas are 

 produced. 



Broth: Turbid. Growth settles at the bot- 

 tom of the tube as a sort of viscous zoogloea. 

 Unpleasant odor produced. 



Peptone water: Turbid. 



Milk: Feebly acidified but not coagulated. 



Indole is produced. 



Carbohydrates not attacked. 



Egg albumen not attacked. 



Anaerobic. 



Distinctive characters: Large size; un- 

 pleasant odor; production of indole; pro- 

 duction of gas. 



Source: Isolated from the large intestine 

 of a man with intestinal intoxication. 



Habitat: Intestine. Not common. 



4. Peptococcus aerogenes (Schottmiil- 

 ler, 1912) Douglas, comb. nov. (Staphylococ- 

 cus aerogenes Schottmiiller, Cent. f. Bakt., 

 I Abt., Orig., 64, 1912, 270; Micrococcus 

 aerogenes Bergey et al.. Manual, 1st ed., 

 1923, 70; not Micrococcus aerogenes Miller, 

 Deutsch. med. Woehnschr., 12, 1886, 119.) 



a.e.ro'ge.nes. Gr. noun aer air; Gr. v. 

 gennaio to produce; M.L. adj. aerogenes gas- 

 producing. 



Description taken from Prevot (Ann. Sci. 



Nat., Ser. Bot. et Zool., 15, 1933, 212), Fou- 

 bert and Douglas (Jour. Bact., 56, 1948, 25) 

 and Whiteley (Jour. Bact., 63, 1952, 163, and 

 Thesis, Univ. of Washington, 1951). 



Spheres, 0.75 to 1.0 micron in diameter, 

 occurring singly, in pairs, tetrads and ir- 

 regular masses. Non-motile. Not encapsu- 

 lated. Gram-positive. 



Gelatin: No liquefaction. 



Agar colonies: Circular, 0.5 to 2.0 mm in 

 diameter, smooth, entire, low convex, 

 opaque, grayish white, butyrous. 



Growth in fluid medium : In peptone yeast 

 extract broth, growth is moderate, coarsely 

 granular; slight to moderate gas produc- 

 tion. Growth and gas production not en- 

 hanced by glucose but markedly stimulated 

 by 0.5 per cent glutamate. 



Litmus milk: Reduced. 



Indole is produced. 



Hydrogen sulfide is produced. 



Cell suspensions decompose glutamate, 

 serine, threonine, histidines and purines to 

 CO 2 , Ho , NHs and acids. The acids pro- 

 duced are butyric and acetic from glu- 

 tamate, acetic from serine, propionic from 

 threonine, and acetic and lactic from 

 purines and histidines. Chemical analyses 

 show that only traces of glucose are utilized 

 (Foubert and Douglas). Prevot states that 

 some strains produce small amounts of acid 

 from glucose and fructose. 



Nitrites produced from nitrates; nitrites 

 are reduced. 



Egg albumen, beef serum and casein not 

 attacked. 



Coagulase-negative. 



Catalase-positive. 



Anaerobic. 



Optimum temperature, 37° C. Growth be- 

 tween 25° and 37° C. 



Optimum pH, between 7.0 and 8.0; pH 

 range, 5.5 to 8.5. 



Non-hemolytic. 



Distinctive characters: Gas production; 

 sugars utilized slowly if at all; fermenta- 

 tion of amino acids and purines. Foubert 

 and Douglas (op. cit., 1948, 29) found no es- 

 sential differences between cultures of this 

 species and those of Peptococcus asaccharoly- 

 ticus. Future work will probably show the 

 two species to be identical. 



