The genusAcetomonas

Summary

A study of 50 strains of acetic bacteria incapable of further oxidation of acetic acid, together with a study of the literature, has led to the conclusion that the segregation of such bacteria in a new genusAcetomonas Leifson amended Shimwell is fundamentally and phylogenetically sound and should be accepted.

No objective grounds justifying the specific separation of pigment-producing strains from alleged colourless ones have been discovered, pigmentation on a particular sugar varying from strain to strain, and also (probably by mutation) within a single strain. Similar arguments apply to the other biochemical and morphological criteria studied. A single species “Acetomonas oxydans (Henneberg) Shimwell and Carr” is therefore proposed and diagnosed. It is considered thatA. suboxydans Kluyver and de Leeuw is a synonym of, and a later isolated of,Bacterium oxydans Henneberg (1897).

It is suggested also that the previous necessarily inaccurate description ofAcetobacter Beijerinck may invalidate the claims of anyone beforeLeifson to have originated, or properly described, this genus, and that “Acetobacter Leifson” may now be the correct designation.

“Acetimonas” Orla-Jensen, and “Gluconobacter” Asai and Shoda are rejected, and the reasons given.