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Morphological diversity of freshwater bacteria belonging to theBlastocaulis-planctomyces group as observed in natural populations and enrichments

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Abstract

The nonprosthecate, stalked, budding, aquatic bacteria presently thought to belong to theBlastocaulis-Planctomyces group are morphologically quite diverse—as can be seen in high resolution transmission electron micrographs of these organisms as they occur in freshwater samples and enrichments prepared from them. Stalk fine structure is of several different types: some of these organisms possess flattened (in some cases, possibly tubular) ribbon-like stalks made up of parallel arrays of subunit fibrils of varying dimensions; others have stalks composed of twisted (ropelike) bundles of relatively coarse individual fibrils. Diversity exists in various other appendages (flagella, spires, fimbriae, holdfasts), cell envelope features (including the peculiar crateriform structures), degree of rosette formation, and cell shape. Based on this diversity, four morphotypes have been delineated among the members of this group. The axenic cultures we have isolated are being characterized within the morphotype framework.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany and Microbiology, Arizona State University, 85281, Tempe, Arizona, USA

    Jean M. Schmidt

  2. Department of Bacteriology, University of California, 95616, Davis, California, USA

    Mortimer P. Starr

Authors
  1. Jean M. Schmidt
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  2. Mortimer P. Starr
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Schmidt, J.M., Starr, M.P. Morphological diversity of freshwater bacteria belonging to theBlastocaulis-planctomyces group as observed in natural populations and enrichments. Current Microbiology 1, 325–330 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02621363

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