The Minimal Nutritional Requirements of Organisms of the Genus Bordetella Lopez

Abstract

SUMMARY : Eight strains of bronchiseptica, six strains of parapertussis and fifteen strains of pertussis were examined for their minimal nutritional requirements in defined media. All strains showed an absolute requirement for nicotinic acid and no other vitamin was required for growth. Amino acids were essential for parapertussis and pertussis, but bronchiseptica would grow in either a mixture of amino acids, or lactate or citrate. Two old laboratory strains were exceptional in that they could utilize either glutamic acid, a-ketoglutaric acid, citrate, lactate, succinate or pyruvate. The amino acid requirements of the three species were relatively simple and showed some similarities. Bronchiseptica would grow in a mixture of glutamic acid, proline and leucine, while parapertussis required added cystine and methionine, and pertussis required in addition alanine, asparagine and serine. In simple amino acid mixtures glutamic acid was essential, but was replaceable by a-ketoglutaric acid. Nutritionally the species are very similar, but are quite different from the Haemophilus injiuenxae-parainjluenxae-canis, or the Brucella abortus-suis-melitensis groups of organisms. The nutritional evidence supports the already impressive evidence on other grounds that these three groups should be classified separately. If generic status is given to one group it should be given to all three. L6pez (1952) has proposed a new genus Bordetella, consisting of the species B . pertussis, B . parapertussis and B. bronchiseptica, and this seems a reasonable solution to the present anomalous position. The three species can be differentiated by tests for inhibition. Thus B . bronchiseptica is the only species not inhibited by 2.0 yo citrate and B. pertussis the only species inhibited by colloidal copper sulphide.The Parvobacteriaceae have been subdivided into a multiplicity of genera, primarily on grounds of animal pathogenicity. Many of the genera consist of only a few pathogenic species; in some instances all the species in a genus produce similar diseases in the field or in experimental animals. Since pathogens are highly specialized species it has usually been possible to devise a number of positive or negative diagnostic tests for their identity, tests which are not so readily available for the whole range of bacteria. To some extent these tests have obscured the underlying basis of pathogenicity used for their classification. This classification is, of course, a reflexion of the historical development of bacteriology and has been evolved to satisfy the practical needs of human and veterinary medicine. Even if comparative studies made it possible to present a more aesthetically satisfying classification on general biological lines it would almost certainly be unacceptable at the present time to those workers most interested in this group of organisms. However, the existing system of classification introduces two difficulties that are pertinent here. First, it is difficult to introduce a species into such an arbitrary classification. Th...

The Minimal Amino Acid Requirements of Haemophilus pertussis

“…These findings with regard to amino acid requirements are at variance with those of Proom (1955), and the discrepancy may be due to the difference in time of incubation. Proom did not state how long he incubated his cultures but said that his methods were similar to those used by Knight & Proom (1950) who stated that 'growth was determined by visual observation.. .up to 3-4 days'; this might well be too short a period in which to observe the growth of Haemophilus pertussis in simple media, after the first few subcultures.…”

“…All strains used were freeze-dried from the first or second subculture after isolation; strain 724 was used in previous work (Jebb & Tomlinson, 1951, 1955.…”

“…Different workers (Hornibrook, 1939 Proom, 1955) found that cystine, cysteine or glutathione supplied a requirement needed for full growth of large inocula. Imamura (1952), however, obtained growth with a wider variety of sulphur sources, including some inorganic compounds.…”

Isolation and characterization of Bordetella parapertussis-like bacteria from ovine lungs

“…Its fastidiousness and defined growth requirements (Proom, 1955) make it difficult to isolate without specialized media (Regan & Lowe, 1977) and identification is hampered by the close similarity of members of the genus Bordetella with other bacterial genera, in particular Haemopbilzrs, Acinetohacter and Alcaligenes (Johnson & Sneath, 1973). Considered an obligate respiratory tract pathogen for man (Linneman & Perry, 1977 ;Pittman, 1984) it has recently been isolated from the respiratory tract of healthy and pneumonic lambs in New Zealand (Cullinane e t al., 1987).…”

Amino Acid Metabolism in the Genus Bordetella

“…bronchisepticus should be put together in a new genus, Bordetella. Proom (1955) showed that the growth requirements of the three species are similar, but the metabolism has not yet been adequately investigated. It was to compare the amino acid metabolism of these species that the present work was undertaken.…”