Abstract
A single strain representing the fusiform group of caulobacters first described by Henrici and Johnson has been isolated from a freshwater pond. Like the genusCaulobacter this is a chemo-organotrophic bacterium that has one polar prostheca, a stalk in the sense that its apical holdfast permits the cell to attach to solid substrates. Fine structure studies reveal, however, that the prostheca of this organism contains typical cellular constituents, not the membranous material found in the stalks ofCaulobacter andAsticcacaulis. The organism also differs from the other caulobacters in having no motile stage and no dimorphic life cycle (both daughter cells are stalked at the time of division). Because only one strain has been isolated no nomenclatural proposals are made, but sufficient evidence is presented to indicate that this is a representative of a new genus of the Schizomycetes.
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We would like to thank M. Mandel who determined the molar base composition of the DNA and Jean M. Schmidt who furnished the caulobacters and their phages. We also appreciate the comments of Jeanne S. Poindexter who reviewed the manuscript and R. E. Buchanan for his thoughts on nomenclature.
The research was supported in part by the Office of Water Resources, Annual Allotment Grant 14-01-0001-1842, and the Michigan State Agricultural Experiment Station.
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de Bont, J.A.M., Staley, J.T. & Pankratz, H.S. Isolation and description of a non-motile, fusiform, stalked bacterium, a representatieve of a new genus. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 36, 397–407 (1970). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02069040
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02069040