FAMILY MYCOBACTERL\CEAE 



885 



Dorset's egg medium: Spreading, 

 raised, glistening, later wrinkled. 



Loeffler's medium: Similar to Dorset's 

 egg medium, white to buff-colored. 



Litmus milk: Becomes alkaline. 



Glycerol broth : Grayish flaky pellicle 

 which breaks up early and settles. 



Broth: Slightly turbid, with slight 

 sediment . 



Potato : Scanty, grayish growth, raised 

 with a warty surface. 



Indole not formed. 



Nitrites are produced from nitrates. 



Carbohydrates: Glucose, fructose and 

 arabinose are utilized; sucrose, lactose 

 and galactose not utilized (Merrill, Jour. 

 Ba,ct.,20, 1930, 235). Fructose, mannitol 

 and trehalose are utilized; sorbitol, 

 arabinose and galactose are not utilized 

 (Gordon, Jour. Bact., 34, 1937, 617). 



No HoS formed. 



Optimum temperature 28°C (Kiister), 

 37 °C (Bynoe). 



Optimum pH 6.6 to 7.3, range 4.0 to 

 10.0. 



Antigenic structure: By agglutination 

 and complement fixation Mycobacterium 

 ranae may be distinguished from Myco- 

 bacterium piscium and Mycobacterium 

 Jriedmannii (Mudd, Proc. Soc. E.xp. 

 Biol, and Med., 23, 1925, 569; Furth, 

 Jour. Immunol., 12, 1926, 286). See 

 Mycobacterium piscium. 



Pathogenicitj' : Experimentally causes 

 tuberculosis in frogs, lizards, turtles; not 

 pathogenic for rabbits, guinea pigs, rats 

 Or mice. 



Distinctive characters : See Mycobac- 

 terium piscium. 



Source : From the liver of a frog. 



Habitat : In a group of 215 cultures be- 

 longing to the genus, isolated from soils, 

 Gordon (Jour. Bact., 34, 1937, 617) found 

 65 to sufficiently resemble Mycobacterium 

 ranae to indicate at least a very close 

 relationship. If they prove to be identi- 

 cal, the species is widely distributed. 



9. Mycobacteriiun thamnopheos Aron- 

 son. (Jour. Inf. Dis., 44, 1929, 222.) 

 From Thamnophis, a genus of snakes. 



Tuberculbacillen bei Schlangen, Sib- 

 ley, Arch. f. pathol. Anat. u. Physiol., 

 116, 1889, 104 {Mycobacterium tropidona- 

 tum (sic) Bergej' et al., Manual, 1st ed., 

 1923, 376) is probably identical, but the 

 descriptions are too meager to be con- 

 clusive. Acid-fast bacilli described by 

 Gibbes and Shurley (Amer. Jour. Med. 

 Sci., 100, 1890, 145) as the cause of 

 tuberculosis in boas and pythons; by 

 Shattock (Trans. Path. Soc, London, 

 53, 1902, 430) and by von Hanseneann 

 (Cent. f. Bakt., I Abt., Orig., 34, 1903, 

 212) as causing tuberculosis in a Python 

 molurus, are possibly identical, but the 

 descriptions do not permit us to draw 

 any conclusions. According to Aronson, 

 similar organisms isolated from patho- 

 logical lesions in boa constrictors and 

 Caluber catenifer differ antigenically 

 from Mycobacterium thamnopheos. 



Description taken from Aronson {loc. 

 cit.) and Bynoe (Thesis, McGill Uni- 

 versity, Montreal, 1931). 



Slender rods : 0.5 by 4 to 7 microns, fre- 

 quently slightly curved, beaded and 

 barred forms frequently occur. Non- 

 motile. Acid-fast in cultures of 4 days 

 or older, in younger cultures some or- 

 ganisms are not acid-fast. Not alcohol- 

 fast. Gram-positive. 



Gelatin stab : Growth occurs along the 

 line of .inoculation. No liquefaction. 



Agar colonies : 0.5 to 1 mm in diameter, 

 irregular, raised, moist and glistening. 



Glycerol agar: Spreading, raised, dry, 

 pale pink to buff growth. 



Glycerol broth : A thin pellicle appears 

 in 5 to 6 days, gradually becomes thicker 

 and falls as a sediment. 



Dorset's egg medium: Raised, moist, 

 pinkish growth after 10 days, later be- 

 coming salmon-colored. 



Loeffler's serum : Small, raised, convex, 

 dry growth. 



Litmus milk: Alkaline. 



Glycerol potato: Raised, hemispheri- 

 cal, dry and granular growth. 



Indole not produced. 



Nitrates : Not reduced by 2 strains, 



