Open AccessGlucose‐induced morphological variation in Selenomonas ruminantium
Author(s) -
Hudman J.F.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
fems microbiology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1574-6968
pISSN - 0378-1097
DOI - 10.1111/j.1574-6968.1984.tb00726.x
Subject(s) - chemostat , flagellate , motility , flagellum , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , strain (injury) , morphology (biology) , rumen , bacteria , chemistry , biochemistry , anatomy , fermentation , genetics , botany
Selenomonas ruminantium (strain I10) isolated from the ovine rumen showed considerable morphological variation and lack of motility when cultured in a phosphate‐limited chemostat in the presence of high levels of glucose (55.5 mM). Transmission electron microscopy showed that some of these variants were capable of producing daughter cells with a typical selenomonad morphology but lacking flagella. The reduction of the levels of glucose (27.8 mM) in the media caused the numbers of cells exhibiting variation to decrease, with a corresponding increase in motile cells possessing a typical selenomonad morphology. The removal of trypticase from the media had no effect on the morphology or motility of the cells. During the initial stages of changeover to reduced glucose levels variants could be found in the chemostat which were flagellate. The flagellae were consistently attached to a concave section of the cells.