A saccharolytic spirochete that associated and interacted with cellulolytic bacteria was isolated from bovine rumen fluid. Isolation was accomplished by means of a procedure involving serial dilution of a sample of rumen fluid into a cellulose-containing agar medium. Clear zones appeared within the medium as a result of cellulose hydrolysis by rumen bacteria. The saccharolytic spirochete and a cellulolytic bacterium later identified as a strain of Bacteroides succinogenes were isolated from the clear zones. The spirochete did not utilize cellulose, but grew in coculture with the cellulotytic bacterium in cellulose-containing media. When cocultured in these media the spirochete used, as fermentable substrates, soluble sugars released from cellulose by the cellulolytic bacterium. In cellulose-containing agar medium the spirochete enhanced cellulose breakdown by the B. succinogenes strain. Electron microscopy showed that the helical spirochete cells possessed an outer sheath, a protoplasmic cylinder, and two periplasmic fibrils. Under a CO2 atmosphere, in a reduced medium containing inorganic salts, rumen fluid, glucose, and NaHCO3, the spirochete grew to a final density of 1.9 X 10(9) cells/ml. Succinate, acetate, and formate were products of the fermentation of glucose by growing cells. CO2 (HCO3-), branched short-chain fatty acids, folic acid, biotin, niacinamide, thiamine, pyridoxal, and a carbohydrate were required for growth of the spirochete. The results of this study indicated that the rumen spirochete represents a new species of Treponema. It is proposed that the new species be named Treponema bryantii.

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Spirochetes indigenous to the healthy gingival crevice of the human mouth were isolated directly from colonies in agar medium containing rifampin as a selective agent.

The cellulase system of Clostridium papyrosolvens C7 was fractionated by means of ion-exchange chromatography into at least seven high-molecular-weight multiprotein complexes, each with different enzymatic and structural properties. The molecular weights of the complexes, as determined by gel filtration chromatography, ranged from 500,000 to 660,000, and the isoelectric points ranged from 4.40 to 4.85. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis of the complexes showed that each complex had a distinct polypeptide composition. Avicelase, carboxymethyl cellulase, and xylanase activity profiles difered from protein complex to protein complex. Three of the complexes hydrolyzed crystalline cellulose (Avicel). Activity zymograms of gels (following electrophoresis under mildly denaturing conditions) revealed different carboxymethyl cellulaseactive proteins in all complexes but xylanase-active proteins in only two of the complexes. The xylanase specific activity of these two complexes was more than eightfold higher than that of the unfractionated cellulase preparation. A 125,000-Mr glycoprotein with no apparent enzyme activity was the only polypeptide present in all seven complexes. Experiments involving recombination of samples eluted from the ion-exchange chromatography column indicated that synergistic interactions occurred in the hydrolysis of crystalline cellulose by the cellulase system. We propose that the C. papyrosolvens enzyme system responsible for the hydrolysis of crystalline cellulose and xylan is a multicomplex system comprising at least seven diverse protein complexes.

The morphology, the general physiological characteristics, and the energy-yielding metabolism of an obligately anaerobic spirochete isolated from the colon of a swine were studied. Electron microscopy showed that the helical spirochetal cells possessed an outer sheath, a protoplasmic cylinder, and 4 periplasmic fibrils in a 2-4-2 arrangement. The spirochete grew in an atmosphere of N2 in prereduced media containing a carbohydrate, NaHCO3, rumen fluid, yeast extract, peptone, L-cysteine, and inorganic salts. The spirochete fermented carbohydrates and required substrate amounts of CO2 (HCO3-) for growth. Amino acids were not fermented. Major fermentation products of cells growing with glucose as the substrate and in the presence of CO2 were acetate, formate, succinate, and lactate. Small amounts of 2,3-butanediol, pyruvate, and acetoin were also formed. Determinations of enzymatic activities in cell extracts, and of radioactivity in products formed by growing cells from [1-14C]glucose, indicated that this sugar was dissimilated to pyruvate via the Embden-Meyerhof pathway. The spirochetes used a coliform-type clastic reaction to metabolize pyruvate. Determinations of radioactivity in products formed from [14C]NaHCO3 indicated that CO2 was assimilated and used in succinate production. The guainine + cytosine content of the DNA was 36 mol %. This study indicates that this intestinal spirochete represents a new species of Treponema. It is proposed that the new species be named Treponema succinifaciens.