FAMILY ACTINOMYCETACEAE 



905 



1939, 835.) From Latin, colored very 

 red. 



Biittner (Arch. Hyg., 97, 1926, 17) 

 regards Mijcohacterium cos as probably 

 identical with Mycobacterium ruhrum 

 Sohngen (Cent. f. Bakt., II Abt., 37, 

 1913, 599), Grassberger's organism {loc. 

 cit.), Hormann and Morgenrot's organ- 

 ism (Hyg. Rundsch., 7, 1898, 229), and 

 Weber's organism (Arb. a. d. k. Gesund- 

 heitsamte, Berlin, 19, 1903). 



To this list Lehmann and Neumann 

 (Bakt. Diag., 7 Aufl., 2, 1927, 764) also 

 add the organism of Ascher (Ztschr. f. 

 Hyg., 32, 1899, 329) and the butter 

 bacillus of Aujeszky (Cent. f. Bakt., I 

 Abt., Orig., 31, 1902, 132). 



Jensen (Proc. Linnean Soc. New So. 

 Wales, ^9, 1934, 32) regards the following 

 organisms as probably identical : Bac- 

 terium, ruhrum Migula (Syst. d. Bakt., 

 2, 1900, 488) a preliminary description of 

 which is given by Schneider (Arb. bakt. 

 Inst. Karlsruhe, 1, Heft 2, 1894, 213); 

 probably this is also the organism re- 

 ferred to by Haag (Cent. f. Bakt., II 

 Abt., 71, 1927, 35) as Bacterium ruhrum; 

 and Mycobacterium ruhrum Sohngen (loc. 

 cit.). 



Description taken from Grassberger 

 (Zoc. c;7.), Hefferan (loc. cit.) and Jensen 

 (loc. cit.). 



Small rods: 0.3 to 0.9 by 1.5 to 3.0 

 microns. Cells in 18 to 24 hour agar 

 culture in beautiful angular arrangement, 

 after 2 to 3 days nearly coccoid, 0.6 by 

 0.8 micron. Tendency for branching on 

 glycerol agar after 2 to 3 days, but branch- 

 ing does not occur commonly though 

 granules of aerial mycelium are sometimes 

 seen (Jensen). Not acid-fast (Grass- 

 berger). Acid-fast (Hefferan). Vari- 

 able (Jensen). Non-motile. Gram- 

 positive. 



Gelatin colonies : Irregular with crenate 

 margin and folded surface. Coral red. 



Gelatin stab : Surface growth like the 

 colonies. Growth in stab at first thin, 

 then granular to arborescent with chro- 

 mogenesis. No liquefaction. 



Agar colonies: Small, granular, be- 

 coming pink to red depending on com- 

 position of agar. 



Agar slant : Dry, lustreless (R) to 

 glistening (S), pink to vermillion red. 



Broth : Faint uniform turbidity with 

 salmon-pink pellicle (in scales) which is 

 renewed on surface as it settles to form a 

 red sediment (Hefferan, Jensen). 



Litmus milk: Thick, fragile, dull coral 

 red surface scales and sediment. Un- 

 changed (Hefferan) to alkaline and 

 somewhat viscid after 3 to 4 weeks 

 (Jensen). 



Potato : Slow but excellent intensive 

 red growth becoming dull orange 

 (Jensen). 



Nitrites not produced from nitrates; 

 nitrates, ammonia and asparagine are al- 

 most as good sources of nitrogen as pep- 

 tone (Jensen). 



Benzine, petroleum, paraffin oil and 

 paraffin are utilized as sources of energy 

 (Sohngen). No action on manganese 

 dioxide (Sohngen, Cent. f. Bakt., II 

 Abt., 40, 1914, 554). 



Optimum pH 6.8 to 7.2. Growth stops 

 at pH 4.9. 



Temperature relations: Grows well be- 

 tween 20"" and 37°C (Jensen). 



Aerobic to facultative anaerobe. 



Distinctive characters: Mi/cobacie- 

 rzMm-like colonies with coral to vermillion 

 red chromogenesis on asparagine agar, 

 potato, gelatin and other media. Short 

 rods, seldom forms filaments. Generally 

 not acid-fast. 



Source : Six cultures isolated from but- 

 ter (Grassberger). Several cultures iso- 

 lated from soil in Holland (Sohngen) 

 and Australia (Jensen). Two cultures 

 as contaminants in tuberculin flasks 

 (Hagan, Breed). 



Habitat : Probablj'' widely distributed 

 in soil. 



16. Nocardia rubra (Krassilnikov) 

 comb. nov. (Proaclinomyces ruber Kras- 

 silnikov, Bull. Acad. Sci. U. S. S. R., No. 

 1, 1938, 139.) From Latin ruber, red. 



