FAMILY LACTOBACTERIACEAE 



357 



Cent. f. Bakt., II Abt., 11, 1903, 159 

 (Lactobacillus beijerinckii Bergey et al., 

 Manual, 1st ed., 1923, 248) ; Lactobacillus 

 peniosus Fred, Peterson and Anderson, 

 Jour. Biol. Chem., 48, 1921, 410; Jour. 

 Biol. Chem., 53, 1922, 111; Lactobacillus 

 arabinosiis Fred, Peterson and Anderson, 

 Jour. Biol. Chem., 48, 1921, 410; Bac- 

 terium busae asiaticae Tschekan, Cent, 

 f. Bakt., II Abt., 78, 1929, 89 {Lacto- 

 bacillus busaeasiaticus Bergey et al.. 

 Manual, 3rd ed., 1930, 288); Bacterium 

 brassicae Wehmer, Cent. f. Bakt., II 

 Abt., 10, 1903, 628 (Lactobacillus bras- 

 sicae LeFevre, Abst. Baet., 6, 1922, 25). 



Description from Orla-Jensen supple- 

 mented by material from Pederson, Jour. 

 Bact., 31, 1936, 217. 



Rods: Ordinarily 0.7 to 1.0 by 3.0 to 

 8.0 microns, occurring singly or in short 

 chains, with rounded ends. Under favor- 

 able growth conditions these organisms 

 tend to be short rods. Under adverse 

 conditions they tend to be longer; for 

 example, in tomato juice agar at 45°C 

 (Pederson, N. Y. Agr. Exp. Sta. Tech. 

 Bull. 150, 1929). In fermenting vege- 

 tables, the organisms tend to become 

 longer as the acidity becomes greater. 

 The organism^s are usually longer in milk 

 than in ^oths. Differences in mor- 

 phology are well illustrated by Orla- 

 Jensen. Non-motile. Gram-positive. 



Gelatin-yeast extract-glucose stab : 

 Filiform growth. No liquefaction. 



Agar slant : Growth, if any, is very 

 faint. 



Broth : Turbid, clearing after a few 

 days. A few strains flocculate. 



Litmus milk: Acid, usualh' coagulated. 



Nitrites not produced from nitrates. 



The majority of strains form acid from 

 glucose, fructose, mannose, galactose, 

 arabinose, sucrose, maltose, lactose, 

 raffinose and salicin, and to a lesser ex- 

 tent, from sorbitol, mannitol, dextrin, 

 glycerol and xylose. Rhamnose, starch 

 and inulin usually not fermented. 



Lactic acid (usually inactive) with 

 only small quantities of acetic acid and 

 carbon dioxide is formed in the fermenta- 



tion of hexose sugars. Acetic and lactic 

 acid are produced from the pentoses. 

 Forms up to 1.2 per cent acid in broth. 



This species is the inactive lactic acid- 

 producing rod from fermenting materials 

 but is closely related to Lactobacillus 

 casei. It ferments sucrose and maltose 

 as readily as lactose. 



Salt tolerance: Usually grows in salt 

 up to 5.5 per cent. 



Temperature relations : Optimum tem- 

 perature 30°C. Minimum 10°C. Maxi- 

 mum 40°C. Thermal death point 65° to 

 75°C for 15 minutes. 



Microaerophilic. 



Sources from which isolated : Milk, 

 cheese, butter, kefir, feces, fermenting 

 potatoes, beets, corn, chard, bread dough, 

 sauerkraut, cucumber pickles, tomato 

 ]5ickles, cauliflower pickles and spoiled 

 tomato products. 



Habitat : Widely distributed in nature, 

 particular!}^ in fermenting plant and 

 animal products. 



10a. Lactobacillus plantarum var. ru- 

 densis Breed and Pederson (not Peter- 

 son). (Jour. Bact., 36, 1938,667.) This 

 chromogenic organism isolated from 

 cheese is one of two species responsible 

 for the development of rusty spots in 

 cheese. It is impossible to determine 

 whether the incompletely described 

 species Bacillus rudensis Conuell, Ca- 

 nadian Dept. of Agric'., Dairying Service, 

 Ottawa, Report for 1897, 7 is identical 

 with this varietj^ of Lactobacillus plan- 

 tarum or with Lactobacillus brevis var. 

 rvdensis (see species No. 12a). This 

 chromogenesis is produced in starch 

 media under anaerobic conditions. 



11. Lactobacillus leichmannii Bergey 

 et al. (Bacillus leiclimanni I, Henne- 

 berg, Ztschr. f. Spiritusindustrie, 26, 

 1903, 22; see Cent. f. Bakt., II Abt., 11, 

 1903, 163; Bergey et al., Manual, 2nd ed., 

 1925, 180.) Named for Prof. G. Leich- 

 mann, a German bacteriologist. 



Probable synonym : Bacillus leich- 

 manni III, Henneberg, loc. cit. 



