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Deoxyribonucleic acid base composition of species ofKlebsiella, Azotobacter andBacillus

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Abstract

Methods of molecular taxonomy were used to study the genome or deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) of different strains of five genera of nitrogen-fixing bacteria. The DNA base compositions of all strains ofKlebsiella pneumoniae (previously classified as strains ofAchromobacter sp.,Aerobacter aerogenes orK. pneumoniae) occupy a fairly narrow range of values from 56.7 to 62.5% G-C content. No significant difference was observed in the DNA base composition of bacteria which can fix molecular nitrogen and that of strains which do not fix nitrogen.

Six strains of the speciesAzotobacter vinelandii and the one strain ofA. chroococcum tested possess similar DNA base composition. The strain ofAzotobacter agilis tested, however, had a DNA base composition different from these seven strains. The G-C content of the strains ofAzotomonas insolita falls within the broad range of thePseudomonas genus (55–70%), but the peritrichous flagellation of these strains eliminates them from this genus. Their classification still remains to be ascertained.

Eleven strains of the speciesBacillus polymyxa andB. macerans formed two homogenous groups of organisms with different DNA base composition. The atypical strainB. polymyxa Hino is genetically similar to the strains of the speciesBacillus macerans and perhaps should be reclassified as such.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Bacteriology and Biochemistry, The University of Wisconsin, 53706, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

    C. A. Ouellette, R. H. Burris & P. W. Wilson

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  1. C. A. Ouellette
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  2. R. H. Burris
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  3. P. W. Wilson
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Additional information

Supported in part by National Science Foundation grant GB-483 and National Institutes of Health grants AI 01417 (11) and based on Ph.D. thesis of senior author (1967).

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Ouellette, C.A., Burris, R.H. & Wilson, P.W. Deoxyribonucleic acid base composition of species ofKlebsiella, Azotobacter andBacillus . Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 35, 275–286 (1969). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02219149

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