In the analysis of an ethanol-CO, enrichment of bacteria from an anaerobic sewage digestor, a strain tentatively identified as Desulfovibrio vulgaris and an H,-utilizing methanogen resembling Methanobacterium formicicum were isolated, and they were shown to represent a synergistic association of two bacterial species similar to that previously found between S organism and Methanobacterium strain MOH isolated from Methanobacillus omelianskii. In lowsulfate media, the desulfovibrio produced acetate and H2 from ethanol and acetate, H2, and, presumably, CO2 from lactate; but growth was slight and little of the energy source was catabolized unless the organism was combined with an H2-utilizing methanogenic bacterium. The type strains of D. vulgaris and Desulfovibrio desulfuricans carried out the same type of synergistic growth with methanogens. In mixtures of desulfovibrio and strain MOH growing on ethanol, lactate, or pyruvate, diminution of methane produced was stoichiometric with the moles of sulfate added, and the desulfovibrios grew better with sulfate addition. The energetics of the synergistic associations and of the competition between the methanogenic system and sulfate-reducing system as sinks for electrons generated in the oxidation of organic materials such as ethanol, lactate, and acetate are discussed. It is suggested that lack of availability of H2 for growth of methanogens is a major factor in suppression of methanogenesis by sulfate in natural ecosystems. The results with these known mixtures of bacteria suggest that hydrogenase-forming, sulfate-reducing bacteria could be active in some methanogenic ecosystems that are low in sulfate.

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Bacillus stearothermophilus. J. Bacteriol. 86:681-686. 1963.-A chemically defined medium was devised for use in a-amylase induction studies. The addition of 0.1% casein hydrolysate to the chemically defined medium permitted growth on fructose, and with glucose, sucrose, maltose, starch, and glycerol it shortened the lag period and increased both the growth rate and the total enzyme produced. Growth did not occur when gluconate, acetate, or succinate were used as carbon sources. a-Amylase was produced during the logarithmic phase of growth; the amount produced was inversely proportional to the rate of growth. The poorer the carbon source for growth (glycerol, k = 0.24; glucose, k = 0.26; sucrose, k = 0.42), the higher was the amount of enzyme produced (glycerol, 109 units/ml; glucose, 103 units/ml; sucrose, 45 units/ml). Cells grown on technical-grade maltose (k = 0.26) or starch (k = 0.42) did not conform to this relationship in that unusually large amounts of a-amylase were produced (362 and 225 units/ml, respectively). Cells grown on fructose or sucrose had the same growth rate (k = 0.42), but smaller amounts of a-amylase were produced on fructose (fructose, 0 to 4 units/ml; sucrose, 45 units/ml). An intracellular a-amylase was not detected in Bacillus stearothermophilus. Bacillus stearothermophilus produces a low molecular weight, thermostable, extracellular I Part of the dissertation of Neil E. Welker, presented to the Graduate Faculty of Western Reserve University in partial fulfillment of requirements for the Ph.D. degree.

Eight strains of highly amylolytic, sporeforming bacilli (hereafter referred to as Bacillus amyloliquefaciens) were compared with respect to their taxonomic relationship to B. subtilis. The physiological-biochemical properties of these two groups of organisms showed that B. amyloliquefaciens differed from B. subtilis by their ability to grow in 10% NaCl, characteristic growth on potato plugs, increased production of a-amylase, and their ability to ferment lactose with the production of acid. The base compositions of the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) of the B. subtilis strains consistently fell in the range of 41.5 to 43.5% guanine + cytosine (G + C), whereas that of the B. amyloliquefaciens strains was in the 43.5 to 44.9%/0 G + C range. Hybrid formation between B. subtilis W23 and B. amyloliquefaciens F DNA revealed only a 14.7 to 15.4% DNA homology between the two species. Transducing phage, SP-10, was able to propagate on B. subtilis W23 and B. amyloliquefaciens N, and would transduce B. subtilis 168 (indole-) and B. amyloliquefaciens N-10 (arginine-) to prototrophy with a frequency of 3.9 X 10-and 2.4 X 10-' transductants per plaque-forming unit, respectively. Attempts to transduce between the two species were unsuccessful. These data show that Bacillus amyloliquefaciens is a valid species and should not be classified as a strain or variety of B. subtilis.

, AND L. LEON CAMPBELL. Characterization of a thermophilic bacteriophage for Bacillus stearothermophilus. J. Bacteriol. 91:340-348. 1965.-The biological and physical-chemical properties of the thermophilic bacteriophage TP-84 were investigated. TP-84 was shown to be lytic for 3 of 24 strains of Bacillus stearothermophilus tested over the temperature range of 43 to 76 C. The latent period of TP-84 on B. stearothermophilus strain 10 was 22 to 24 min. TP-84 has a hexagonal head, 53 m,u in diameter and 30 m,u on a side; its tail is 130 m,u long and 3 to 5 m,u wide. The phage has an S'20 of 436, and bands at a density of 1.508 g/cc in CsCl (pH 8.5). The diffusion coefficient of TP-84