Phaeospirillum oryzae sp. nov., a spheroplast-forming, phototrophic alphaproteobacterium from a paddy soil.

Two strains (JA317(T) and JA559) of spiral shaped, spheroplast-forming, anaerobic, gram-negative, motile purple non-sulfur bacteria were isolated from rhizosphere soils of paddy and were characterized by a polyphasic taxonomic approach. Bacteriochlorophyll a and carotenoids, rhodopin, lycopene and rhodopin glucoside, were present as photosynthetic pigments. Intracellular photosynthetic membranes were of stacked type. The major fatty acids were C(18 : 1)ω7c, C(16 : 0) and C(16 : 1)ω6c/C(16 : 1)ω7c in both strains. The genomic DNA G+C content was 63.3±0.8 mol%. The two strains were closely related (mean DNA-DNA hybridization >85 %). Phylogenetic analysis showed that the strains clustered with the species of the genus Phaeospirillum, which belongs to the family Rhodospirillaceae within the class Alphaproteobacteria. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, strains JA317(T) and JA559 showed highest sequence similarity with the type strains of Phaeospirillum chandramohanii (98.2 %), Phaeospirillum molischianum (97.4 %) and Phaeospirillum fulvum (97.1 %) of the family Rhodospirillaceae. Strain JA317(T) can be clearly distinguished from P. chandramohanii with respect to spheroplast formation and several other morphological and physiological properties. DNA-DNA relatedness of strain JA317(T) with its closest relatives of the genus Phaeospirillum was less than 55 %. It is evident from the phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and molecular genetic evidence that strain JA317(T) represents a novel species of the genus Phaeospirillum, for which the name Phaeospirillum oryzae sp. nov., is proposed. The type strain of the species is JA317(T) ( = NBRC 104938(T)  = KCTC 5704(T)).

[The ultrastructural characteristics of Neisseria meningitidis strains isolated in different forms of infection]. / Osobennosti ul'trastruktury shtammov Neisseria meningitidis, vydelennykh pri razlichnykh formakh infektsii.

The electron microscopic study of cell populations of the first generation of several N.meningitidis strains, isolated from humans and grown on artificial culture medium (Hottinger's serum agar) has made it possible to establish that these organisms are morphologically heterogeneous. It was manifested by the presence of 7 morphological variants of cells in their cultures (different strains have different proportions of these variants): (a) "normal" and similar to normal diplococcal variants; (b) atypically dividing cells; (c) spheroplastic forms; (d) protoplastic forms (typical and atypical); (e) variably gemmating forms; (f) microforms and (g) gigantic forms. These data are of interest for the microbiological diagnosis of meningitis.