FAMILY II. ACTINOMYCETACEAE 



727 



Optimum pH, between 6.8 and 7.2. Growth 

 stops at pH 4.9. 



Distinctive characters: Mycobacterium- 

 like colonies with coral to vermilion-red 

 chromogenesis on asparagine agar, potato, 

 gelatin and other media; short rods, seldom 

 forms filaments; generally not acid-fast. 



Comments: Gordon (personal communi- 

 cation, 1954) reports that she finds that a 

 culture isolated and identified by Ford 

 (Textb. of Bact., 1927, 255) as this species is 

 identical with Nocardia corallina Waksman 

 and Henrici. 



Source: Six cultures were isolated from 

 butter (Grassberger). Several cultures were 

 isolated from soil in Holland (Sohngen) 

 and Australia (Jensen). Two cultures were 

 isolated as contaminants in tuberculin 

 flasks (Hagan and Breed, personal com- 

 munications). 



Habitat: Probably widely distributed in 

 soil. 



17. Nocardia rubra (Krassilnikov, 1938) 

 Waksman and Henrici, 1948. {Proactino- 

 myces ruber Krassilnikov, Bull. Acad. Sci., 

 U.S.S.R., No. ], 1938, 139; also see Krassil- 

 nikov, Guide to the Actinomycetes, Izd. 

 Akad. Nauk, U.S.S.R., Moskau, 1941, 81; 

 Waksman and Henrici, in Manual 6th, ed., 

 1948, 905.) 



rub'ra. L. adj. ruber red. 



Threads at first filamentous, developing 

 into a unicellular mycelium; after a few 

 days, frequent septa are produced and the 

 mycelium breaks up into short, rod-shaped, 

 and later coccoid elements. These grow into 

 a mycelium on a fresh substrate. No aerial 

 mycelium produced in nutrient media. Not 

 acid-fast. Gram-positive. 



Gelatin: No liquefaction. 



Colonies usually rough; some are smooth, 

 dry, powdery or of dough-like consistency. 

 Part of mycelium grows into substrate. 

 Colonies bright red. Pigment not dissolved 

 into medium; weakly soluble in ether, alco- 

 hol and acetic acid; well soluble in chloro- 

 form; belongs to the carotenoids. 



Agar: Poor growth. 



Synthetic agar: Good, typical growth. 



Broth: Sediment and surface ring; me- 

 dium clear. 



Milk: No change. 



Potato: Good, typical growth. 



Sucrose not inverted. 



Starch not hydrolyzed. 



Cellulose not attacked. 



Readily assimilates fats, paraffin and, to a 

 less extent, wax. 



Nitrites not produced from nitrates. 



Distinctive characters: Grows well in 

 high salt concentrations (5 to 10 per cent 

 NaCl). 



Various strains of this organism may vary 

 considerably from the type strain. 



Source: Isolated from soil. 



Habitat: Soil. 



18. Nocardia coeliaca (Gray and Thorn- 

 ton, 1928) Waksman and Henrici, 1948. 

 {Mycobacterium coeliacum Gray and Thorn- 

 ton, Cent. f. Bakt., II Abt., 73, 1928, 88; 

 Proactinomyces coeliacus Reed, in Manual, 

 5th ed., 1939, 836; Waksman and Henrici, 

 in Manual, 6th ed., 1948, 906.) 



coe.li'a.ca. Gr. adj. coeliacus suffering 

 in the bowels; L. adj. coeliacus relating to 

 the bowels. 



Original description supplemented by 

 material taken from Jensen (Proc. Linn. 

 Soc. New So. Wales, 56, 1931, 201). 



Short, curved, uneven-sided rods, 0.8 by 

 5 microns with occasional filaments up to 

 10 to 12 microns long, frequently beaded, 

 occasionally swollen or branched. Coccoid 

 forms 0.8 to 1.2 microns in diameter are 

 common, especially in older cultures. Stain 

 readily. Not acid-fast or occasionally 

 slightly acid-fast. Gram-positive. 



Gelatin colonies: After 12 days, irregular, 

 raised, white, rugose, dull, entire. Deep 

 colonies: Irregular, smooth or slightly 

 broken. 



Gelatin stab: Convoluted, buff-white to 

 yellowish, dull; below surface the growth 

 forms many irregular hollow lobes, giving a 

 glistening appearance, to a depth of 3 to 4 

 mm. 



Agar colonies: After 11 days, less than 1 

 mm in diameter, round or irregular, raised, 

 white, resinous, irregular, burred. Deep 

 colonies: Irregularly round or ovoid; edge 

 slightly broken. 



Agar slant: Filiform, convex, white, ru- 

 gose, resinous, undulate growth. 



