FAMILY XII. OORYNEBACTERIACEAE 



595 



Broth: Moderate turbidity in 24 hours. 

 Pellicle formed. 



Milk: Acid curd and slow peptonization. 



Indole not produced. 



Hydrogen sulfide not produced. 



Acid from glucose, lactose, sucrose and 

 glycerol. 



Starch not hydrolyzed. 



Nitrites not produced from nitrates. 



Slight growth in 5 per cent salt. 



Optimum temperature, 31° C. Ma.ximum 

 temperature, between 36° and 40° C. 



Distinctive character: A strict vascular 

 parasite of the bean. 



Source: Isolated from wilted bean plants 

 from South Dakota. 



Habitat: Causes a wilt of beans and re- 

 lated plants. 



29. Corynebacterium acnes (Gilchrist, 

 1901) Eberson, 1918. {Bacillus acnes Gil- 

 christ, Johns Hopkins Hosp. Repts., 9, 

 1901, 425; Bacillus parvus liguefaciens Jun- 

 gano, Compt. rend. Soc. Biol., Paris, 65, 

 1908, 618; Eberson, Jour. Inf. Dis., 23, 1918, 

 10; Corynebacterium liquefaciens Prevot, 

 Ann. Inst. Past., 60, 1938, 304; not Coryne- 

 hacteriiim liquefaciens Andrewes et al.. 

 Diphtheria, London, 1923, 408; not Coryne- 

 bacterium liquefaciens Jensen, Proc. Linn. 

 Soc. New So. Wales, 59, 1934, 49; Propioni- 

 bacterium acnes Douglas and Gunter, Jour. 

 Bact., 52, 1946, 22.) 



ac'nes. Gr. noun acme a point; incorrectly 

 transliterated as M.L. noun acne acne; M.L. 

 gen. noun acnes of acne. 



Original description supplemented by 

 material from more recent authors. 



Rods varying in dimensions, usually 0.4 

 to 0.5 by 0.8 to 0.9 micron, occasionallj^ 

 slightly club-shaped; under aerobic condi- 

 tions the cells are quite long and are swollen 

 or club-shaped, sometimes possessing what 

 appears to be rudimentary branching 

 (Douglas and Gunter, ibid., 17 and 18). Show 

 alternate bands of stained and unstained 

 material. Non-motile. Gram-positive. 



Aerobic growth in culture media is very 

 feeble; anaerobic growth is excellent. Best 

 growth occurs in shake cultures with soft, 

 slightly acid, glucose agar. 



Gelatin: Liquefaction (Douglas and 

 Gunter, ibid., 19). 



Agar colonies: Circular, 1.5 to 4.0 mm in 

 diameter, raised, smooth, glistening, entire, 

 slightly pink, later becoming a pale salmon- 

 pink (Douglas and Gunter, ibid., 18). 



Agar slant: Very small, circular, trans- 

 parent colonies which may later become 

 rose-colored. 



Loeffler's blood serum: Small, grayish 

 colonies which may later become rose-col- 

 ored. 



Broth: Clear. 



Litmus milk: Soft coagulum. 



Potato: No growth in aerobic cultures, 

 but pink streak in anaerobic cultures. 



Indole may or may not be produced 

 (Douglas and Gunter, ibid., 19). Indole 

 produced (Seeliger, personal communica- 

 tion, 1955). 



Acid from glucose, sucrose (slight), malt- 

 ose, mannitol and inulin (Eberson, op. cit., 

 1918, 23). Produces propionic acid; lactic 

 acid not fermented (Douglas and Gunter, 

 op. cit., 1946, 22). 



Nitrites produced from nitrates. 



Anaerobic to aerotolerant. 



Catalase-positive. 



Optimum temperature, between 35° and 

 37° C. 



Blood agar: Beta hemolj-sis (Douglas 

 and Gunter, ibid., 19). 



Pathogenic for mice, giving rise to char- 

 acteristic lesions (Eberson, op, cit., 1918, 

 23). 



Serology: See Linzenmeier (Ann. Inst. 

 Past., 87, 1954, 572). 



Comments: Even before 1901 several 

 authors reported finding bacteria in acne 

 pustules which were evidently diphtheroid 

 in nature. Unna (Monatshefte f. prakt. 

 Derm., 13, 1891, 232) found an organism in 

 acne pustules for which he gave the name 

 Flaschenbacillus. Hodara (Monatshefte f. 

 prakt. Derm., 18, 1894, 586) reported the 

 presence of two types of bacteria in acne 

 lesions, the second of which he called Fla- 

 schenkugelbacillus. Sabouraud (Ann. Inst. 

 Past., 11, 1897, 134) gave a more accurate 

 description of these diphtheroids which 

 he reported to need an acid medium for 

 growth; he called this bacterium "bacille 

 de s^borrh^e grasse". 



Relationship to Corynebacterium lique- 

 faciens: Seeliger (Arch. f. Hyg. u. Bakt., 



