FAMILY X. LACTOBACILLACEAB 



549 



Relationship to other species : This species 

 is apparently similar to Lactobacillus del- 

 brueckii but has a lower optimum tempera- 

 ture. 



Source: Isolated from compressed yeast 

 and from fermenting milk. 



Habitat: Dairy and plant products. 



11. Laclobacillus plantaruni (Orla- 

 Jensen, 1919) Holland, 1920. (Streptobac- 

 teriurn plantarum Orla-Jensen, The Lactic 

 Acid Bacteria, Copenhagen, 1919, 174; Hol- 

 land, Jour. Bact., 5, 1920, 225.) 



Probable synonyms: Lactobacillus pento- 

 sus Fred, Peterson and Anderson, Jour. 

 Biol. Chem., 48, 1921, 410; Lactobacillus 

 arabinosus Fred, Peterson and Anderson, 

 loc. cit. 



plan.ta'rum. L. fem.n. planta a sprout; 

 M.L. planta a plant; M.L. gen. pi. noun plan- 

 tarum of plants. 



Description from Orla-Jensen supple- 

 mented b}^ material from Pederson (Jour. 

 Bact., SI, 1936, 217). 



Rods, ordinarily 0.7 to 1.0 by 3.0 to 8.0 

 microns, occurring singly or in short chains, 

 with rounded ends. Under favorable growth 

 conditions these organisms tend to be short 

 rods. Under adverse conditions they tend 

 to be longer; for example, in tomato juice 

 agar at 45° C. (Pederson, N. Y. Agr. Exp. 

 Sta. Tech. Bull. 150, 1929). In fermenting 

 vegetables, the organisms tend to become 

 longer as the acidity becomes greater. The 

 organisms are usually longer in milk than 

 in broths. Differences in morphology are 

 well illustrated by Orla-Jensen. Non-motile. 

 A motile strain of this organism has been 

 described bj' Harrison and Hansen (Jour. 

 Bact., 59, 1950, 444). Gram-positive. 



Gelatin-yeast extract-glucose stab: Fili- 

 form growth. No liquefaction. 



Agar slant: Growth, if any, is very faint. 



Broth: Turbid, clearing after a few days. 

 A few strains flocculate. 



Litmus milk: Acid, usually coagulated. 



The majoritj' of strains produce acid from 

 glucose, fructose, mannose, galactose, arabi- 

 nose, sucrose, maltose, lactose, raffinose, 

 salicin and, to a lesser extent, from sorbitol, 

 mannitol, dextrin, glycerol and xylose. 

 Rhamnose, starch and inulin usually not 

 fermented. 



Lactic acid (usually optically inactive), 

 with only small quantities of acetic acid 

 and carbon dioxide, is produced in the fer- 

 mentation of hexose sugars. Acetic and 

 lactic acids are produced from the pentoses 

 Produces up to 1.2 per cent acid in broth. 



Nitrites not produced from nitrates in 

 ordinary broth. In special media, some 

 strains produce nitrites from nitrates (Cos- 

 tilow and Humphreys, Science, 121, 1955, 

 168). 



Microaerophilic. 



Temperature relations: Optimum, 30° C. 

 Minimum, 10° C. Maximum, 40° C. Thermal 

 death point, 65° to 75° C. for 15 minutes. 



Salt tolerance: Usually grows in salt up 

 to 5.5 per cent. 



Relationship to other species : This species 

 is the optically inactive lactic acid-produc- 

 ing rod from fermenting materials but is 

 closely related to Lactobacillus casei. It 

 ferments sucrose and maltose as readily as 

 lactose. 



Comments: Breed and Pederson (Jour. 

 Bact., 36, 1938, 667; also see New York Agr. 

 Exp. Sta. Tech. Bull. 259, 1941, 15 pp.) have 

 described a chromogenic variety of this 

 species which causes rusty spots in cheese. 



Source: Isolated from cheese, butter, 

 kefir, feces, fermenting potatoes, beets, 

 corn, chard, bread dough, sauerkraut, cu- 

 cumber pickles, tomato pickles, cauliflower 

 pickles and spoiled tomato products. 



Habitat: Widely distributed in nature, 

 particularly in fermenting plant and animal 

 products. 



12. Lactobacillvis pastorianus (van 

 Laer, 1892) Bergey et al., 1923. (Saccharo- 

 bacillus pastorianus van Laer, Contributions 

 k I'Histoire des Ferments des Hydrates de 

 Carbone. M6m. Acad. Royale de Belgique, 

 47, 1892, 5; Bergey et al., Manual, 1st ed., 

 1923, 246.) 



pas.tor.i.an'us. L. mas.n. pastor a shep- 

 herd, the Latin rendition of Pasteur; M.L. 

 adj. pastorianus pertaining to Pasteur; 

 named for Louis Pasteur, French chemist 

 and bacteriologist. 



Description supplemented by material 

 from Henneberg (Cent. f. Bakt., II Abt., 

 8, 1902, 184), Shimwell (Jour. Inst. Brewing, 



