'56 



ORDER V. ACTINOMYCETALES 



flavus, Streptomyces californicus and Strep- 

 tomyces lipmanii, but it is not believed to be 

 identical with any of them. 



Source: Isolated from soil. 



Habitat: Soil. 



6. Streptomyces coelicolor (Miiller, 

 1908) Waksman and Henrici, 1948. {Strep- 

 tothrix coelicolor Miiller, Cent. f. Bakt., I 

 Abt., Orig., 46, 1908, 197; Waksman and 

 Henrici, in Manual, 6th ed., 1948, 935.) 



coe.li'co.lor. L. noun coelurn heaven, sky; 

 L. noun colo7- color; M.L. adj. coelicolor 

 sky-colored. 



Description by Miiller except as noted. 



Morphology of Streptomyces coelicolor has 

 not been fully described. According to 

 Waksman and Curtis, who described .4c- 

 tinomyces violaceus -ruber, this is as follows; 

 straight filaments with open, dextrorse 

 spirals. Conidia ellipsoidal or rod-shaped, 

 0.7 to 1.0 by 0.8 to 1.5 microns. 



Gelatin: Good growth. No pigment for- 

 mation. Liquefaction fairly rapid, begin- 

 ning in 4 to 7 days. 



Agar: Good growth. Pigment lacking or 

 faint blue (J. E. Conn, Jour. Bact., 46, 1943, 

 133). 



Synthetic agar: Thin, spreading, colorless 

 at first, becoming red, then blue. Aerial 

 mycelium thin, white, powdery, becoming 

 mouse-gray. 



Asparagine agar: With glycerol as source 

 of carbon, good growth, violet to deep blue, 

 with pigment diffusing through medium; 

 final H-ion concentration, about pH 7.0 to 

 8.0. With glucose as source of carbon, poorer 

 growth, red, no diffusion of pigment; final 

 H-ion concentration, about pH 6.0 to 5.0 

 (Conn). 



Broth: Good growth. Cretaceous layer 

 around edge. 



Milk: No change at 25° C. (Conn). At 

 37° C, coagulation. Peptonization begin- 

 ning in 3 to 5 days. 



Potato : Strong pigment production, some- 

 times greenish blue or violet, but usually 

 sky-blue, diffusing through medium and 

 coloring water at base of tube. 



Blood agar: Hemolysis showing on 4th 

 day. 



Miiller reports no acid from carbohydrates 

 on organic media. In synthetic liquid media, 



acid production from glucose is pronounced; 

 pyruvic and succinic acids have been iden- 

 tified (Cochrane and Dimmick, Jour. Bact., 

 58, 1949, 723). 



Nitrites produced from nitrates. 



Pigment : The most striking characteristic 

 of this organism is a litmus-like pigment, 

 usually produced on potato or synthetic 

 media, which is deep blue and water-soluble 

 at alkaline reactions (beyond pH 8.0), violet 

 around neutrality, and red (insoluble in 

 water) at about pH 6.0. Conn points out 

 that the primary pigment has a spectro- 

 photometric curve almost identical with 

 that of azolitmin but that there are un- 

 doubtedly other pigments produced, es- 

 pecially in the case of the strains believed 

 to be typical of Actinoynyces violaceus -ruber 

 (as previously pointed out by Waksman and 

 Curtis). 



Aerobic. 



Good growth at room temperature and at 

 37° C. 



Antagonistic properties: Some strains 

 produce coelicolorin and mycetin. 



Distinctive character: Litmus-like pig- 

 ment. 



Comments: Because of the numerous 

 colors and shades shown by the pigment ac- 

 cording to final H-ion concentration and 

 other less understood factors, this species 

 may have been described under various 

 names. On the other hand, it is entirely 

 possible, as pointed out by J. E. Conn (op. 

 cit., 1943, 133), that careful study of the 

 pigments may show that more than one 

 species is actually involved. 



Relationships to other species: Regarded 

 by Waksman and Henrici (in Manual, 6th 

 ed., 1948, 935) as the same as Actinomyces 

 violaceus Waksman and Curtis, Soil Science, 

 1, 1916, 110 (Actinomyces violaceus -ruber 

 Waksman and Curtis, ibid., 127) and Ac- 

 tinomyces tricolor Wollenweber, Arbeiten d. 

 Forschungsinstitut fiir Kartoffelbau, 1920, 

 13. It is however, pointed out by Conn {op. 

 cit., 1943, 133) that certain differences be- 

 tween the descriptions of Waksman and 

 Curtis and that of Muller may correspond 

 to actual chemical differences in the pig- 

 ments produced and that the organism of 

 Waksman and Curtis may be a separate 

 species. 



