Summary
Two bacterial species were isolated from cultures of Methanobacillus omelianskii grown on media, containing ethanol as oxidizable substrate. One of these, the S organism, is a gram negative, motile, anaerobic rod which ferments ethanol with production of H2 and acetate but is inhibited by inclusion of 0.5 atm of H2 in the gas phase of the medium. The other organism is a gram variable, nonmotile, anaerobic rod which utilizes H2 but not ethanol for growth and methane formation. The results indicate that M. omelianskii maintained in ethanol media is actually a symbiotic association of the two species.
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References
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Prof. C. B. van Niel has been interested in the biological formation of methane for many years. According to Barker (1936) he was the first to suggest the “carbon dioxide reduction theory” of methane formation which has subsequently been shown to be generally applicable to biological methane formation from organic compounds other than acetate and methanol (Barker, 1956). Much of the knowledge presently available on methanogenic bacteria has been accumulated by his students or “Scientific grandchildren”. It is a great pleasure for the authors to contribute in his honor an account of the association of two bacterial species in the formation of methane from ethanol and CO2.
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Bryant, M.P., Wolin, E.A., Wolin, M.J. et al. Methanobacillus omelianskii, a symbiotic association of two species of bacteria. Archiv. Mikrobiol. 59, 20–31 (1967). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00406313
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00406313