'02 



ORDER V. ACTINOMYCETALES 



cream-colored, with a nodular or wrinkled 

 surface and irregular thin margin. 



Nutrient broth without glycerol: No 

 growth. 



Dorset's egg, Lowenstein, Petragnani, 

 Woolsey colonies: Similar to those on glyc- 

 erol agar, but growth is more rapid and 

 luxuriant. 



Variation in colony structure of the hu- 

 man and the bovine species has been de- 

 scribed by several authors, e.g. Petroff et 

 al. (Jour. E.xp. Med., 60, 1934, 515), Birk- 

 haug (Ann. Inst. Past., 57, 1933, 428), Kahn 

 et al. (Jour. Bact., 25, 1933, 157), Uhlenhuth 

 and Sieffert (Zeit. Immun., 59, 1930, 187), 

 Reed and Rice (Canad. Jour. Res., 5, 1931, 

 HI), Smithburn, (Jour. Exp. Med., 63, 1936, 

 95) and Shaffer (Jour. Path, and Bact., 40, 

 1935, 107). Several of these authors have 

 found associated variation in cell structure 

 and in virulence, though Boquet (Compt. 

 rend. Soc. Biol., Paris, 103, 1930, 290), 

 Birkhaug (Ann. Inst. Past., 49, 1932, 630) 

 and others have failed to find differences in 

 virulence. Reed and Rice (Jour. Immunol., 

 23, 1932, 385) found the S form to contain an 

 antigenic substance lacking in the R form. 



Glycerol broth: After 6 to 8 weeks, thick 

 white to cream-yellow, wrinkled pellicle 

 extending up the sides of the flask; no tur- 

 bidity; granular or scaly deposit. 



Dubos' tween-albumin broth: Diffuse 

 growth visible in a few days and extensive 

 in 7 to 10 days. In undisturbed cultures 

 growth tends to settle but is readily dis- 

 persed. Virulent strains tend to grow in 

 serpentine, cord-like forms in which the 

 bacilli show a parallel orientation. Avirulent 

 forms show a more uniformly diffuse growth 

 (Dubos and Middlebrook, Amer. Rev. Tu- 

 herc, 56, 1947,334). 



Glucose, fructose, arabinose and galactose 

 are utilized; sucrose and lactose are not 

 utilized (Merrill, Jour. Bact., W, 1930, 235, 

 based on the examination of one strain). 



Optimum temperature, 37° C. 



Optimum pH, between 7.4 and 8.0 (Ishi- 

 mori, Ztschr. f. Hyg., 102, 1924, 329); be- 

 tween pH 6.0 and 6.5 (Dernby and Naslund, 

 Biochem. Zeit., 132, 1922, 392). 



Pathogenicity: Produces tuberculosis in 

 man, monkey, dog and parrot. Experi- 

 mentally, it is highly pathogenic for guinea 



pigs but not for rabbits, cats, goats, oxen or 

 domestic fowls. 



Antigenic structure: By agglutination, 

 absorption of agglutinins and complement 

 fixation, a distinction may be made between 

 the human and bovine species and Mycobac- 

 terium avium, but it has been impossible to 

 distinguish by these means between the two 

 mammalian species (Tullock et al.. Tuber- 

 cle, 6, Oct. -Dec, 1924, 18, 57 and 105; 

 Wilson, Jour. Path, and Bact., 28, 1925, 69; 

 Griffith, Tubercle, 6, May, 1925, 417; Rice 

 and Reed, Jour. Immunol., 23, 1932, 385; 

 Kauffman, Ztschr. f. Hyg., 114, 1932, 121). 

 Tuberculins prepared from the human and 

 the bovine species are ordinarily indistin- 

 guishable in their action, but Lewis and 

 Seibert (Jour. Immunol., 20, 1931, 201) 

 detected a difference by cross anaphylactic 

 reactions. 



Distinctive characters: Mycobacterium 

 tuberculosis produces generalized tuberculo- 

 sis in experimentally inoculated guinea pigs 

 but not in rabbits, voles or fowls. Mycobac- 

 terium bovis produces generalized tuberculo- 

 sis in guinea pigs, rabbits and voles but not 

 in fowls. Mycobacterium microti produces 

 generalized tuberculosis in voles but not in 

 guinea pigs, rabbits or fowls. Mycobacterium 

 avium produces generalized tuberculosis in 

 fowls but not in guinea pigs or voles. Growth 

 of the human form is enhanced by the addi- 

 tion of glycerol to most media. Growth of 

 the bovine and murine forms is not enhanced 

 by glycerol. The human form generally 

 develops a creamy to yellow or faint red pig- 

 ment especially on media containing serum; 

 the bovine and murine forms are not pig- 

 mented. 



Comments: Griffith (Lancet, 1, 1916-17, 

 721; Jour. Path, and Bact., 21, 1924, 54) has 

 found aberrant mammalian types, particu- 

 larly in skin lesions of both man and ox, 

 which are, in certain characteristics, inter- 

 mediate between the human and the bovine 

 species. He finds no evidence, however, that 

 the one species may change into the other. 



Source : Isolated from tuberculous lesions 

 in man. 



Habitat: The cause of tuberculosis in 

 man. 



9. Mycobacterium bovis Bergey et al., 



