FAMILY ACTINOMYCETACEAE 



913 



Dorset's egg medium: After 2 weeks, 

 raised, dry, smooth, salmon-buff growth. 



Loeffler's medium: After 2 days, 

 smooth, moist, warty, salmon-colored 

 growth. 



Litmus milk : Alkaline after 5 to 7 days. 



Glycerol potato: After 2 days, dry, 

 wrinkled, pink to orange growth. 



Nitrites are produced from nitrates. 



No acid from glucose, lactose, sucrose 

 or glycerol. 



Phenol and naphthalene are utilized. 



Optimum temperature 25° to 30°C. 



Optimum pH 7.8 to 8.5. 



Distinctive characters : Differs from 

 Nocardia coeliaca in saccate liquefaction 

 of gelatin. Long rods and filaments. 



Source : A few strains have been iso- 

 lated from soil in Great Britain and 

 Australia. 



Habitat : Presumably soil. 



30. Nocardia flavescens (Jensen) 

 comb. nov. (Proactinomyces flavescens 

 Jensen, Proc. Linnean Soc. New So. 

 Wales, 56, 1931, 361.) From Latin 

 flavescens, becoming golden yellow. 



On media where a firm growth is pro- 

 duced, the vegetative mycelium appears 

 as long, branched, non-septate hyphae, 

 0.4 to 0.6 micron thick. In other media, 

 as on nutrient agar and potato, septa are 

 formed and the mycelium appears in 

 preparations as fragments of very vari- 

 able size, partly resembling highly 

 branched mycobacteria. In several 

 cases — for instance, on nutrient agar at 

 28° to 30°C, in 5 to 6 weeks old cultures in 

 glucose broth, and in glucose NH4 CI 

 solution — short elements assume swollen, 

 fusiform to lemon-shaped forms. The 

 aerial mycelium consists of fairlj' long 

 hyphae of the same thickness as the 

 vegetative hyphae, not very much 

 branched, without spirals, often clinging 

 together in wisps. A differentiation 

 into spores is never visible by direct 

 microscopic examination. Neither is 

 this the case in stained preparations ; 

 here the aerial hyphae break up into 



fragments of quite variable length, from 

 1.2 to 1.5 up to 10 to 12 microns, showing 

 an irregular, granulated staining. 



Gelatin: Slow liquefaction. 



Sucrose agar: Good growth. Vegeta- 

 tive mycelium superficially spreading, 

 much raised and wrinkled, cracking, 

 white to cream-colored, of a dry, but loose 

 and crumbly, consistency. Aerial my- 

 celium scant, thin, white. Faint yellow 

 soluble pigment after 2 to 3 weeks. 



Glucose agar: Good growth. Vegeta- 

 tive mj'celium superficial, wrinkled, 

 honey-yellow, of a hard and cartilagin- 

 ous consistency. Aerial mycelium thin, 

 smooth, white. Yellow soluble pigment. 



Nutrient agar: Good growth. Vegeta- 

 tive mycelium raised and much wrinkled, 

 first dirty cream-colored, later dark 

 yellowish-gray, of a soft, moist, curd-like 

 consistency. No aerial mycelium. No 

 pigment . 



Potato; Good to excellent growth. 

 \'egetative mycelium much raised and 

 wrinkled, first cream-colored, later yel- 

 lowish-brown, soft and smeary. No 

 aerial mycelium, no pigment. 



Glucose broth: Rather scant growth. 

 Granulated, 3'ellowish sediment; no sur- 

 face growth. Broth clear. No pigment. 

 No acidity. 



Sucrose is inverted. 



Starch is hydrolyzed. 



Cellulose is not decomposed. 



Nitrates are reduced slightly or not at 

 all with various sources of energy. 



Milk: Coagulated and slowly redis- 

 solved with acid reaction. 



Final reaction in glucose -NH4CI solu- 

 tion, pH 3.9 to 3.6. 



No growth under anaerobic conditions. 



Habitat: Soil. 



31. Nocardia maculata (Millard and 

 Burr) comh. nov. {Actinomyces macula- 

 tus Millard and Burr, Ann. Appl. Biol., 

 13, 1926, 580; Proactinomyces maculatus 

 Umbreit, Jour. Bact., 38, 1939, 84.) 

 From Latin maculatus, spotted. 



Description taken from Umbreit. 



