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Taxonomy of the marine, luminous bacteria

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Summary

One hundred and seventy-three strains of marine, luminous bacteria isolated from sea water, surfaces and intestines of fish, as well as from the luminous organs of fish and squid were submitted to an extensive phenotypic characterization. A numerical analysis of the results grouped these strains into four clusters which were formed on the basis of overall phenotypic similarity. One cluster, which was given the designationBeneckea harveyi, consisted of strains which had a moles% GC content in their DNAs of 46.5±1.3 and a single, sheathed, polar flagellum when grown in liquid medium. Most of these strains had unsheathed, peritrichous flagella in addition to the sheathed, polar flagellum when grown on solid medium. The two phenotypically similar clusters which were assigned the species designationsPhotobacterium phosphoreum andP. mandapamensis consisted of strains which had 1–3 unsheathed, polar flagella and moles % GC contents in their DNAs of 41.5±0.7 and 42.9±0.5, respectively. The cluster designatedP. fischeri contained strains having 2–8 sheathed, polar flagella and a moles % GC content of 39.8±1.1. These four species could be further distinguished on the basis of a number of nutritional properties as well as other phenotypic traits. The assignment of the luminous, marine bacteria to four species was supported by differences in the properties of the luminous system as well as differences in the pattern of regulation of spartokinase activity which are discussed. The speciesB. harveyi was found to be phenotypically similar to a number of previously characterized, non-luminous strains ofBeneckea which should probably be assigned to this species.

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Abbreviations

ASW:

artificial sea water

ATCC:

American Type Culture Collection

BM:

basal medium

BMA:

basal medium agar

GC:

guanine plus cytosine

LA:

luminous medium agar

LB:

luminous medium broth

MA:

Difco Marine Agar

NCMB:

National Collection of Marine Bacteria

PHB:

poly-β-hydroxybutyrate

S:

similarity coefficient

YEB:

yeast extract broth

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology, University of Hawaii, 96822, Honolulu, Hawaii

    John L. Reichelt & Paul Baumann

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

    Paul Baumann

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  1. John L. Reichelt
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  2. Paul Baumann
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This paper is part of a dissertation submitted by the senior author to the Graduate Division of the University of Hawaii in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Ph.D. Degree in Microbiology

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Reichelt, J.L., Baumann, P. Taxonomy of the marine, luminous bacteria. Archiv. Mikrobiol. 94, 283–330 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00769027

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