Numerical Taxonomy of Certain Coryneform Bacteria

Abstract

, AND JOHN G. HOLT. Numerical taxonomy of certain coryneform bacteria. J. Bacteriol. 20:921-927. 1965-An electronic computer was used to sort 32 strains of coryneforms into groups with the tree-sort program. The similarity values obtained in this procedure were then used to construct a dendrogram depicting the. phenetic resemblance among the taxa. The results indicated that all the phytopathogens studied were sufficiently distinct from the type species, Corynebacterium diphtheriae, to be excluded from the genus Corynebacterium. The grouping of some of the phytopathogens with Microbacterium lacticum is discussed. C. fascians appeared so distinct from the other strains studied that it should probably be excluded from the Corynebacteriaceae. The phenetic resemblance of Brevibacterium linens and Arthrobacter globiformis was emphasized, and the new combination, Arthrobacter linens, was proposed. In addition, because of distinct dissimilarity from the type species, it would seem desirable to exclude Arthrobacter tumescens from the genus Arthrobacter. The justification for classifying Kurthia zopfii in a family separate from the Corynebacteriaceae would appear to be open to serious question. It was concluded that the present taxonomic positions of Listeria monocytogenes, Cellulomonas biazotea, and Cellulomonas fimi are satisfactory.

Peptidoglycan types of bacterial cell walls and their taxonomic implications.

“…These findings support the proposals of several authors (33,69,82,84,134) to remove the plant pathogenic corynebacteria such as C. betae, C. flaccumfaciens, C. insidiosum, C. michiganens, C. poinsettiae, C. sepedonicum, and C. tritici from the genus Corynebacterium. Da Silva and Holt (82) suggested grouping these organisms with strains labeled Microbacterium lacticum. This would tally with the peptidoglycan structure, since the latter species and the closely related M. liquifaciens (318,319) show a peptidoglycan structure quite similar to that of plant pathogenic corynebacteria (335,343).…”

“…In particular the plant pathogenic corynebacteria show peptidoglycan types of group B. These findings support the proposals of several authors (33,69,82,84,134) to remove the plant pathogenic corynebacteria such as C. betae, C. flaccumfaciens, C. insidiosum, C. michiganens, C. poinsettiae, C. sepedonicum, and C. tritici from the genus Corynebacterium. Da Silva and Holt (82) suggested grouping these organisms with strains labeled Microbacterium lacticum.…”

Uptake and utilization of n‐octacosane and n‐nonacosane by Arthrobacter nicotianae KCC B35

“…Interestingly, the omission of the latter two species from the genus Arthvobactev has earlier been proposed on other bases, viz. cell wall analysis (Cummins and Harris 1959), numerical taxonomy (Da Silva and Holt 1965 ;Goodfellow 1967 ;Davis and Newton 1969) and DNA base composition (Bowie et a/. 1972).…”

Numerical Taxonomy of Coryneform Bacteria Isolated from Pond-Reared Shrimp (Penaeus aztecus) and Pond Water1

“…The sources of the type cultures of Corynebacteriaceae are listed in Table 1. Two species each of Propionibacterium and Brevibacterium were also included because some members of these genera are considered closely related to the Corynebacteriaceae (2,3). All isolates were maintained in cystine-Trypticase-agar medium (CTA; BBL) with 1.2% NaCl.…”