1987 Volume 33 Issue 3 Pages 247-265
Myxobacteria were isolated in Japan from soils, decaying plant materials, and tree bark. The isolation methods we have used are the rabbit dung method, placing soil on bacterial smears, the filter paper method, and the agar medium method. Placing soil on bacterial smears was easy to manage. Addition of dealkaline lignin stimulated formation of well- differentiated fruiting bodies on agar medium. This made it possible to investigate the morphology of fruiting bodies of myxobacteria on the agar medium in the laboratory. The myxobacteria isolated and purified were found to be strains of the genera Myxococcus and Archangium. Isolates were identified as Myxococcus stipitatus, Myxococcus fulvus, Myxococcus coralloides, and Archangium gephyra. A new species Myxococcus flavescens is proposed on the basis of morphological characteristics and production of diffusible light yellow pigment. All the tested strains gave positive reactions in catalase and urease. The DNA base composition of the myxobacteria examined ranged from 65 to 67mol% of guanine plus cytosine. The major quinone was menaquinone with 8 isoprenoid units (MK-8). The major cellular fatty acids were iso 15:0, iso 17:0, and 16:1.
