1963 Volume 9 Issue 4 Pages 363-376
1. Metabolizing activities of Nocardia sp. CF 222 on phenol and 21 related substances were examined. Eight of these substances including phenol could be metabolized. Some of the utilizable substances exhibited toxicity at higher concentrations, while homocatechol, benzoate and phenylphosphate had no such effect at the highest concentration tested (25×103μg/10ml).
2. Cultures of the organism in synthetic media containing glucose or phenol and in a nutrient broth have revealed that in all cases the cells release phosphorus compounds into the culture medium at a later stage of logarithmic growth.
3. Cells grown in different media (synthetic medium containing glucose or phenol and a nutrient broth) were followed for their morphological changes during the culture. It was found that in the nutrient broth and in the synthetic glucose medium the cells assumed, at first, a form of long branched mycelium which later divided to give rise to short rods and coccoid forms, whereas in the synthetic phenol medium the cells remained to be long rod without dividing into shorter cells.
4. Although the organism can grow in a synthetic glucose medium containing ammonium sulfate as the sole nitrogen source, its growth is considerably accelelated when ammonium was substituted with tyrosine. Such an effect was not observed with vitamins B1 and B2, biotin, adenine, guanine and uracil.
