li'AMILY STREPTOMYCETACEAE 



935 



Milk: Peptonized after coagulation. 

 Reaction becomes alkaline (Duch^) . 



Aerobic . 



Source : From air and soil (Rossi 

 Doria) ; from garden soil (Krainsky) . 



Habitat: Dust, soil, grains and straw. 

 Widely distributed. 



2. Streptomyces coelicolor (Reiner- 

 ^liiller) comh. nov. {Slreptothrix coelicolor 

 Reiner-Mijller, Cent. f. Bakt., I Abt., 

 Orig., 46, 1908, 197; Nocardia coelicolor 

 Chalmers and Christopherson, Ann. 

 Trop. Med. and Parasit., 10, 1916, 271; 

 Actinomyces coelicolor Lieske, Morphol. 

 u. Biol. d. Strahlenpilze, Leipzig, 1921, 

 28.) From Latin caelum, sky and color. 

 color. 



Regarded by the authors of this section 

 as the same as Actinomijccs violaceus 

 Waksman and Curtis, Soil Science, 1, 

 1916, 110 (Actinomyces violaceus-ruber 

 Waksman and Curtis, ibid., 127; Actino- 

 myces waksmanii Bergej^ et al., Manual, 

 3rd ed., 1930, 489) and Actinomyces tri- 

 color Wollenweber, Arbeiten d. For- 

 schungsinstitut fiir Kartoffelbau, 1920, 

 13. It is, however, pointed out by J. E. 

 Conn (Jour. Bact., 46, 1943, 133) tJiat 

 certain differences between the descrip- 

 tions of Waksman and Curtis, and that of 

 Miiller may correspond to actual chemical 

 differences in the pigments produced; 

 and that the organism of Waksman and 

 Curtis may be a separate species. 



Description by Miiller except as 

 noted. 



Morphology of Streptomyces coelicolor 

 has not been fully described. According 

 to Waksman and Curtis who described 

 Actinomyces violaceus-ruber, this is as 

 follows : Straight filaments with open, 

 dextrorse spirals, breaking up into coni- 

 dia. Conidia oval or rod -shaped, 0.7 to 1.0 

 by 0.8 to 1.5 microns. 



Gelatin: Good growth. Xo pigment 

 formation. Liquefaction fairlj^ rapid, 

 beginning in 4 to 7 days . 



Plain agar: Good growth. Pigment 

 lacking or faint blue (Conn). 



Czapek agar (according to Waksman 

 and Curtis concerning Actinomyces viola- 

 ceus-ruber) : Thin, spreading, colorless at 

 first, becoming red, then blue. Aerial 

 mycelium thin, white, powdery, becom- 

 ing mouse -gray. 



Asparagine agar (synthetic) : With 

 glycerol as source of carbon, good growth, 

 violet to deep blue, with pigment diffus- 

 ing through medium; final H-ion con- 

 centration 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. 



:VIilk: Xo change at 25°C (Conn). 

 At 37°C, coagulation. Peptonization be- 

 ginning in 3 to 5 da3-s. 



Potato : Strong pigment production, 

 sometimes greenish-blue or violet, but 

 usually sky-blue, diffusing through me- 

 dium and coloring water at base of tube. 



Xitrites produced from nitrates. 



Blood agar : Hemolysis showing on 4th 

 day. 



Miiller reports no acid from carbohy- 

 drates on organic media. Conn, however, 

 finds acid from glucose and lactose, and 

 sometimes from sucrose and mannitol 

 when grown on synthetic media. 



Pigment : The most striking charac- 

 teristic of this organism is a litmus -like 

 pigment usuallj- produced on potato or 

 synthetic media, which is deep blue and 

 water-soluble at alkaline reactions (be- 

 yond pH 8.0), violet around neutralitj-, 

 and red (insoluble in water) at about pH 

 6.0. Conn points out that the primary 

 pigment has a spectrophotometric curve 

 almost identical with that of azolitmin; 

 but that there are undoubtedly other pig- 

 ments produced, especially in the case of 

 the strains believed to be typical of 

 Actinomyces violaceus-ruber (as pre- 

 viously pointed out by Waksman and 

 Curtis). 



Good growth at room temperature and 

 at 37°C. 



