Study of Dissociative Behavior ofPseudomonas aeruginos

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Abstract
A culture of P. aeruginosa comprises an exceptionally heterogeneous population differing in colony morphology and in biochem. and serol. characteristics. A convenient though not rigorous definition of the species is considered to be as follows: bacteria which are Gram-negative, non-spore forming, possessing 1 to 8 polar flagella, actively proteolytic and hemolytic, producing a blue-green or fluorescent pigment (whether or not chloroform-soluble) and producing acid without gas from glucose. Three basic colonial types are recognized. Type A, the predominant type, is a strict aerobe and produces the yellow fluorescent pigment. Type B is a facultative anaerobe and produces the blue-green pigment pyocyanin. Type R is also a strict aerobe and is responsible for the production of the recently described antibiotics, the so-called "pyo" compounds (Hays et al., Jour. Biol. Chem. 159: 725. 1945). Each basic colony type is convertible to the other under appropriate conditions and each is subject to variation. Nevertheless, they remain stable under ordinary conditions of cultivation, though dissociation occurs in old cultures. Although fermentation behavior is quite variable, some degree of correlation is shown between the same colony type from different strains of P. aeruginosa and the fermentation pattern. Serologically, the 3 basic types are homologous with respect to somatic antigen but heterologous with respect to flagellar antigen.