A species of strictly anaerobic, carbohydrate-fermenting, formic-and butyric acid-producing, gram-negative to gram-variable bacteria is described on the basis of 35 isolates from human feces and one isolate from chicken cecal contents. Members of this species produce morphological forms with the appearance of buds. This species cannot be assigned to any known genus, and therefore a new genus, Gernrniger (L. n. gernrna a bud; L. v. gero to bear; M. L. masc. n. gernrniger bud bearer), is proposed with G. forrnicilis n.sp. (M. L. adj. forrnicilis pertaining to formic acid) as the type species. The type strain of this species is Virginia Polytechnic Institute strain X2-56 (= ATCC 27749). This report describes 35 bacterial isolates of a species that appears to be common in the large intestines of man and chickens. Strains of this species, conforming to the description below, occurred at 8.32 (*1.8 standard deviation) x 109/g (dry weight) of feces of 20 clinically healthy Japanese-Hawaiians and accounted for 1.75% (A 0.39 standard deviation) of the cultivable fecal bacterial flora of this group of people (9).
The bacteria in the large intestines of 10 northern leopard frogs (Rana pipiens) were enumerated and partially characterized. Four nonhibernating frogs were collected in the summer, four hibernating frogs were collected in the winter, and two frogs ust emerged from hibernation were collected in the spring. All frogs had about 101 bacteria per g (wet weight) of intestinal contents and about 109 bacteria per g (wet weight) of mucosal scraping, although the counts from the winter frogs were slightly less than those from the other two groups of frogs. Another group of 14 summer frogs, after treatment to induce hibernation, showed a drop in bacterial counts accompanied by a change in the composition of the flora. In most frogs, Bacteroides was the dominant organism. Other bacteria repeatedly isolated at high dilutions were strict anaerobes, including butyrigenic and acetogenic helically coiled bacteria; fusobacteria; and acetogenic, small, gram-positive bacilli. These data indicate that the intestinal flora of frogs is similar to that of mammals and birds and that this flora can be maintained at temperatures close to freezing.
The bacterial flora of the large intestine was examined in 35 laboratory-reared leopard frogs (Rana pipiens) subjected to one of the following four treatments: (i) normal feeding at 21 degrees C (10 frogs); (ii) fasting for 2 weeks at 21 degrees C (8 frogs); (iii) chilling for 1 week at 4 degrees C (9 frogs); and (iv) simulated hibernation for 3 weeks at 4 degrees C (8 frogs). Bacteria from the intestinal contents and mucosa were counted microscopically and by colony counting after strictly anaerobic culturing. The predominant bacteria were isolated and partially characterized. Fasting for 2 weeks produced no significant changes in total counts or in the types of bacteria cultured. Chilling, whether rapid or in the course of simulated hibernation, was associated with a decrease in the numbers and variety of bacteria. Thus it appears that the lowering of temperature rather than the absence of food is the important factor in the reduction of bacterial flora seen in hibernating frogs. However, the bacteria showed some adaptation to the low temperature, as the longer the host had been at 4 degrees C, the higher the proportion of bacteria which could grow when cultured at that temperature.
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