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MANUAL OF DETERMINATIVE BACTERIOLOGY 



swelling of the branch tips. The swell- 

 ings become round, acquire the shape of 

 spheres, which, as the formation of the 

 conidia proceeds, are divided from the 

 branch by a transverse septum. 



Gelatin is liquefied. 



Colonies : Rugose, at first very com- 

 pact, later acquire a pasty consistency, 

 and their bond with the medium becomes 

 not so fast. The color of the cultures 

 varies from light yellow to orange -red. 

 During fruit-bearing the colonies are 

 covered with a brownish-black tarnish 

 of conidia. 



In meat-peptone broth, ammonia is 

 produced. 



Milk: Coagulation; peptonization. 



Nitrites are produced from nitrates. 



Sucrose is inverted. 



Cellulose not decomposed. 



Starch is hydrolyzed. 



Habitat: Soil. 



5. Micromonospora vulgaris (Tsilin- 

 sky) Waksman, Umbreit and Gordon. 

 (Thermophile Cladothrix, Kedzior, Arch. 

 Hyg., 27, 1896, 328; Thermoaclinonujces 

 vulgaris Tsilinsky, Ann. Inst. Past., 13, 

 1899, 501 ; Actinomyces rnonosporus 

 Schlitze, Arch. f. Hyg., 67, 1908, 50 (No- 

 cardia monospora Chalmers and Chris- 

 topherson, Ann. Trop. Med. and Para- 

 sit., 10, 1916, 271); Actinomyces glaucus 

 Lehmann and Schiitze, in Lehmann and 

 Neumann, Bakt. Diag., 5 Aufl., 2, 1912, 

 641 {Nocardia glauca Chalmers and 

 Christopherson, loc. cit.); Micromonos- 

 pora coerulea Jensen, Proc. Linn. Soc. 

 New So. Wales, 57, 1932, 177; Waksman, 

 Umbreit and Gordon, Soil Sci., 47, 1939, 

 51.) From Latin vulgaris, common. 



Morphologically the development of 

 this organism is entirely comparable to 

 that of the mesophilic form described by 

 Jensen. The young mycelium shows 

 slightly more branching than that pro- 

 duced by species of Streptomyces. 

 Spores are borne at the end of short 

 branches from which they are easily 

 broken. The aerial mycelium, though 

 present, is usually rudimentarj^, rarely 

 exhibiting the tangled network of strands 



typical of species of Streptomyces. Ther- 

 mophilic strains of Micromonospora 

 vulgaris differ thus from the mesophilic 

 forms, which show no trace of aerial my- 

 celium. Fragmentation has not been 

 seen in slide cultures of the organism 

 thus far isolated, but it was found to oc- 

 cur in smear preparation. 



According to Jensen, the mesophilic 

 strains grow slowly on glucose-aspara- 

 gine-agar; vegetative mycelium dense, 

 dark greenish-blue, with a hard and glossy 

 surface. Sporulation very scant. The 

 surface sometimes shows a thin white 

 veil resembling aerial mycelium, but 

 without aerial spores. 



Gelatin: Liquefaction. 



Good growth on beef-peptone agar, 

 potato, milk, beef-peptone broth, etc. 

 Grows in liquid media as fairly large, 

 firm, round, white to pink granules 

 (Jensen). Usually a white, powdery, 

 thin aerial mycelium is produced which 

 is hardly raised above the surface. No 

 soluble pigment is formed. 



Czapek's agar : Growth white, powdery, 

 slightly raised. 



Broth : A tough white pellicle and in 

 many instances a considerable number of 

 ball-like colonies at the bottom of the 

 tube. No turbidity. 



Milk: Coagulated and digested. 



Nitrites not produced from nitrates. 



Sucrose not inverted. 



Cellulose not decomposed. 



Starch is hydrolyzed. 



Optimum temperature of thermophilic 

 forms 57 °C. Growth range 48° to 68°C. 



Habitat: Straw, soil, high tempera- 

 ture composts. 



Appendix: The following anaerobic 

 species has been described : 



Micromonospora propionici Hungate. 

 (Abst. in Jour. Baot., 48, 1944, 380 and 

 499; Jour. Bact., 51, 1946, 51.) From 

 the alimentary tract of the wood-eating 

 termite {Amilennes minimus). Fer- 

 ments glucose or cellulose to form acetic 

 and propionic acids and COo. Obligate 

 anaerobe. 



