Isao Banno

Reclassification of “Flavobacterium arborescens” (Frankland and Frankland) Bergey et al. in the genusMicrobacterium (Orla-Jensen) Collins et al., asMicrobacterium arborescens comb. nov., nom. rev.

Abstract“Flavobacterium arborescens” (Frankland and Frankland) Bergey et al. IFO 3750 (ATCC 4358) is a Gram-positive, coryneform bacterium and the only available reference strain of the species. The cell wall peptidoglycan of the organism possesses alanine, glycine, lysine, glutamic acid plus 3-hydroxyglutamic acid, and homoserine at a ratio of 1:3:1:1:1, and a possible peptidoglycan structure is the B1β type described by Schleifer and Kandler. Cell wall sugars are galactose, mannose, and 6-deoxy-l-talose, but not rhamnose. Major menaquinones are unsaturated MK-11 and MK-12. These findings and other taxonomic properties suggest that “F. arborescens” should be reclassified in the genusMicrobacterium (Orla-Jensen) Collins et al., asMicrobacterium arborescens comb. nov., nom. rev.

VITAMIN REQUIREMENT AS A TAXONOMIC KEY FOR RHODOTORULA SP.

Using several strains of Rhodotorula, the stability of the requirement of thiamine and para-aminobenzoic acid was reexamined. Each of the tested organisms had been maintained on two different media. Besides, the tests were performed in comparison between two methods of incubation. It was found that the degree of requirement for thiamine and for its two pyrimidine and thiazole moieties considerably varied with cultural conditions, while that of para-aminobenzoic acid by some strains did not vary with conditions of preservation and incubation, indicating its essentiality in accordance with the previous results. Discussions were made on the taxonomic significance of the vitamin requirement for the genus Rhodotorula.