Physiology of the Ciliate Colpidium colpoda. III. The Possible Use of the Division Rate of Colpidium colpoda for Identification of Intestinal Bacteria

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Abstract
C. colpoda was grown in a series of 48 7-day isolation culture expts. on suspensions of Escheri-chia coli, Eberthella typhosa, Shigella dysenteriae and Salmonella paratyphi A. The division rate of C. colpoda grown on E. coli as a control differed significantly from those of C. colpoda grown on the 3 exptl. spp. of bacteria. The latter also divided at significantly different rates when compared with each other. The same 4 bacterial spp. caused significant differences in the division rate of C. colpoda in a preliminary study using the small mass-culture technique (1 ml. for a 72-hour period), but this technique may be more useful since it is less tedious than the isolation culture method. Since the division rate of C. colpoda varies significantly according to the bacterial species used as food, it is suggested that the division rate of this protozoan could be used as a means of checking on the separation of spp. of bacteria in careful taxonomic studies and in some phases of medical diagnosis. The use of heat killed Pseudomonas fluorescens and autoclaved brewers'' yeast as a nonliving medium for stock-culturing C. colpoda simplifies the exptl. procedure.

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