698 



ORDER V. ACTINOMYCETALES 



after incubation for 5 days at 28° C. on 

 glycerol agar from 10 to 80 per cent. 



Gelatin: Usually no hydrolysis by Fra- 

 zier method. 



Bennett's and soil extract agar colonies: 

 Dense with smooth edges, dense with fringe 

 of filaments, or filamentous. Filaments 

 fragmenting into short rods. 



Glycerol agar slants: Growth at 2 to 3 

 days usually, rough, good, spreading, finely 

 wrinkled, creamy white; at 14 days, abun- 

 dant, spreading, finely wrinkled, waxy, 

 cream-j'ellow to orange. Growth of cultures 

 in smooth stage abundant, glistening, 

 butyrous and sometimes nodular. 



Milk agar plate: No hydrolysis of casein. 



Acid from glucose, rhamnose, xylose, 

 arabinose, sorbitol, inositol, mannose, man- 

 nitol, trehalose and galactose (with am- 

 moniacal nitrogen); usually from dulcitol. 

 No acid from lactose and usually none from 

 raffinose. Acid not produced from maltose 

 by a majority of the cultures. 



Starch is hydrolyzed. 



Citrate, succinate and malate used as sole 

 sources of carbon. 



Tyrosine not decomposed (Gordon and 

 Smith, Jour. Bact., 69, 1955, 504). 



Benzoate utilized (Gordon and Smith, 

 loc. cit.). 



Oxalate is decomposed by strains isolated 

 from the intestines of earthworms (Kham- 

 bata and Bhat, Jour. Bact., 69, 1955, 227). 

 Khambata and Bhat identified their strains 

 as Mycobacterium lacticola Lehmann and 

 Neumann; however, an earlier study by 

 Gordon and Smith (op. cit.., 1953, 44) has 

 shown that M. lacticola is identical with M. 

 smegmatis Lehmann and Neumann, the 

 latter name having priority. 



Nitrites usually produced from nitrates. 



Temperature relations: Growth at 28° to 

 45° C. inclusive; scant, if any, at 50° C.; 

 none at 52° C. Does not survive 60° C. for 4 

 hours. 



Salt tolerance: Usually growth in glycerol 

 broth containing 5 per cent NaCl; usually 

 none in 7 per cent. 



Source: Isolated from smegma. 



Habitat: Widely distributed in soil, dust 

 and water. 



3. Mycobacterium fortuitum Cruz, 



1938. (Strains of Mycobacterium from cows 

 18, 19, 70 and 75, Minett, Jour. Comp. Path, 

 and Ther., 45, 1932, 317; Cruz, Acta Med. 

 Rio de Janeiro, 1, 1938, 298; Mycobacterium 

 giae Darzins, Arquiv. Inst. Brasil. Invest. 

 Tuberc, 9, 1950, 29; Mycobacterium minetti 

 Penso, Castelnuovo, Gaudiano, Princivalle, 

 Vella and Zampieri, Rend. dell'Istituto 

 Superiore di Sanita, 15, 1952, 491.) 



for. tu'i. turn. L. adj. fortuitus casual, ac- 

 cidental. 



Description taken from Cruz (op. cit., 

 1938, 298), Penso et al. (op. cit., 1952, 491) 

 and Gordon and Smith (Jour. Bact., 69, 

 1955, 502). 



Rods, 1.0 to 3.0 microns in length after 

 cultivation for 72 hours on glycerol agar at 

 28° C, the largest number from 2.0 to 2.2 

 microns in length. Coccoid and short forms, 

 to long, slender rods, occasionally beaded or 

 swollen with an ovoid, non-acid-fast body 

 at one end. In pus, long and filamentous 

 forms with definite branching (Penso et 

 al.). Acid-fastness after incubation for 5 

 days at 28° C. on glycerol agar 10 to 100 per 

 cent. In the majority of cultures, 70 to 100 

 per cent of cells were acid-fast. Non-motile. 

 Gram-positive. 



Gelatin: No hydrolysis by Frazier method 

 (Gordon and Smith). 



Gelatin stab: Heavy growth on surface 

 and along stab. No liquefaction. 



Agar colonies : After 3 or 4 days of incuba- 

 tion, dense colonies with smooth edges, 

 dense colonies fringed with short filaments 

 and/or filamentous colonies. On further 

 incubation the filaments usually fragment 

 into short rods (Gordon and Smith). 



Glycerol agar: Growth at 2 to 3 days at 

 28° C. scant to fair, soft and butyrous or 

 waxy and nodular, off-white to cream- 

 colored; at 14 days, abundant, spreading, 

 butyrous and glistening or dull, rough and 

 waxy, often very nodular, off-white to cream 

 to beige in color (Gordon and Smith). 



Yeast extract agar: Growth moderate to 

 heavy, spreading, butyrous or dry and 

 waxy, usually nodular, sometimes finely 

 wrinkled, off-white to cream to beige (Gor- 

 don and Smith). 



Glucose asparagine agar : At 2 weeks, mod- 

 erate, spreading, soft, and glistening or dull 



