IDENTIFICATION OF SPECIES OF ACTINOMYCES

Abstract

AND SHERRY A. BRINKMAN. Identification of species of Actinomyces. J. Bacteriol. 88:477-490. 1964.-Four unusual isolates of Actinomyces species were compared with six control strains of well-identified Actinomyces species. Their oxygen requirements and their morphological and biochemical characteristics were determined. Final identifications were confirmed by cell-wall analyses for amino acid and carbohydrate composition and by agar-gel techniques. Two strains, A-13-R and A-13-S, isolated from the same cow head were shown to represent rough and smooth variants of A. bovis. The strains were not only morphologically distinct, but had different biochemical reactions and antigenic makeup. The two other strains, X407 and X573, isolated from human pleural fluid and a lung abscess, respectively, were shown to represent a new Actinomyces species.

Peptidoglycan types of bacterial cell walls and their taxonomic implications.

“…The information on the amino acid composition of the cell walls of these organisms is conflicting. In most of the studies only the qualitative amino acid composition has been determined (45,56,69,71,72,76,108,119,297,298,299). The amino acid composition has been quantita-455 VOL.…”

Characterization of a dextranase produced by an oral strain of Actinomyces israelii

“…On the basis of the organism's ability to ferment ribose to acid and on its inability to produce observable growth on Trypticase soyblood agar when grown aerobically (14,40,44), we suggest that these dextranase-producing microbes be considered strains of A. israelii.…”

Morphological, Biochemical, and Serological Studies on 64 Strains of Actinomyces israelii

“…For example, on the basis of published descriptions, Rasmussen et al (16) could identify only 11 of 37 strains of catalase-negative "diphtheroids" isolated from the mouth. A number of recent papers (4)(5)(6)9) have discussed the differential characteristics of Actinomyces species but have usually included only a few strains for comparative purposes.…”

“…(3), Thompson (22), and Pine et al (14), and the principal characteristics distinguishing it from A. naeslundii, A. odontolyticus, A. viscosus [Odontomyces viscous (9) is renamed Actinomyces viscosus (Georg et al, to be published)], A. propionicus, and A. eriksonii have been described in a number of publications (1,(4)(5)(6)9). With the exception of the work of Howell et al (10), only limited numbers of strains have been included in any one study.…”