Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-swr86 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-17T06:19:43.365Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

On the decomposition of cellulose by an aerobic organism (Spirochaeta cytophaga, n. sp.).

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

Henry Brougham Hutchinson  and
James Clayton
Henry Brougham Hutchinson
Affiliation:
Board of Agriculture Research Scholar, (Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden.)
James Clayton
Affiliation:
Board of Agriculture Research Scholar, (Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden.)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

From the foregoing account the following summary may be given:

1. Examination of Rothamsted soils on different occasions has revealed the presence of an organism capable of breaking down cellulose with comparative ease.

2. This organism presents a number of features of morphological and physiological interest. Morphologically, the organism appears to possess greater affinities with the Spirochaetoideae than with the bacteria and the name Spirochaeta cytophaga is, therefore, suggested.

3. While the spirochaet is capable of considerable vegetative growth as a sinuous filamentous cell, it also appears to pass through a number of phases which terminate in the production of a spherical body (sporoid) which differs in a number of respects from the true spores of the bacteria. Germination of the sporoid again gives rise to the filamentous form, which possesses perfect flexibility and is feebly motile. The latter does not apparently possess flagella.

4. Spirochaeta cytophaga is essentially aerobic; its optimum temperature is in the region of 30°. Both the thread and sporoid stages are killed by exposure to a temperature of 60° for ten minutes.

5. The nitrogen requirements of the organism may be met by a number of the simpler nitrogen compounds—ammonium salts, nitrates, amides and amino-acids. Peptone is also suitable in concentrations up to 0.025 per cent. Stronger solutions, e.g. 0.25 per cent., lead to marked inhibition of growth. The organism fails to grow on the conventional nutrient gelatine or agar.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 9 , Issue 2 , April 1919 , pp. 143 - 172
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1919

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Page 144 note 1 Hutohinson, H. B., This Journal, 1918, 9, 92–111.Google Scholar

Page 144 note 1 Omelianski, W., Compt. rend. 1895, 121, 653–655; 1897, 125, 970–973, 1131–1133. Arch. d. Sci. Biol. 1899, 7, 411–434. Cent. Bald. Par. n. 1902, 8.Google Scholar

Page 144 note 2 Russell, E. J. and Appleyard, A.This Journal, 1915, 7, 1–48.Google Scholar

Page 144 note 3 Iterson, C., van Cent. Bakt. Par. II. 1904, 11, 689–698.Google Scholar

Page 145 note 1 Christensen, H. R., Cent. Bakl. Par. II. 1910, 27, 449–451.Google Scholar

Page 145 note 2 Kellerman, K. F. and McBeth, I. G., Cent. Bakt. Par. II. 1912, 34, 485–494.Google Scholar

Page 145 note 3 McBeth, I. G. and Scales, F. M., U.S. Dep. Agr., Bureau Plant lnd., Bull. 266, 1913.Google Scholar

Page 146 note 1 Löhnis, F. and Lockhead, G., Cent. Bakt. Par. II. 1913, 37, 490–492.Google Scholar

Page 146 note 1 The stock mineral salt solution used was the nitrogen-free solution given by Meyer (Practicum, d. botan. Bakterienkunde, Jena, 1903, p. 15) and had the following composition: 1.0 grm. KH2PO4, 0.1 grm. CaCl2, 0.3 grm. MgSO4 + 7H2O, 0.1 grm. NaCl, 0.01 grm. Fe2Cl6, 1000 grm. H2O.Google Scholar

Page 148 note 1 The media tested and found unsuitable for the growth of the cellulose decomposing organisms, or which failed to allow of separation of the two forms, include nutrient gelatine and nutrient agar with and without dextrose, sodium nitrate-mineral salt-cellulose agar, sodium nitrate-dextrose agar, soil extract-cellulose agar, with the addition of 1.0 per cent, of the following sources of nitrogen–asparagin, ammonium citrate, peptone, sodium ammonium phosphate, potassium nitrate: Kellerman and McBeth's cellulose agar, dextrose agar, starch agar, and the numerous solutions suggested by Meyer (loc. cit. p. 24) for diagnostical purposes.

Page 154 note 1 Leishman, W. B., Trans. Soc. Trop. Med. Hyg. 1910, 3, 97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Page 160 note 1 Kitasato, S. and Weyl, T.; Zeitsch. Hyg. 1890, 8, 41.Google Scholar Beijerinck, M. W., Verliaiid. d. konlnk Akad. Wttensch. Amsterdam, 1893.

Page 163 note 1 Winogradsky, S. and Omclianski, W., Cent. Bald. Par. II. 1899, 5, 436.Google Scholar

Page 169 note 1 We desire to express our indebtedness to Mr W. A. Davis and Mr E. Horton, of this Laboratory, for kindly carrying out the Taka-diastase and acid conversion tests respectively.

Page 170 note 1 Mookeridge, F. A., Biochem, J. 1915, 9, 272–283.Google Scholar

Page 170 note 2 Iterson, C.van, loc. cit. 690.Google Scholar

Page 171 note 1 Pringsheim, H., Cent. Baht. Par. II, 1909, 23, 300–304; 1910, 26, 222–227.Google Scholar