The Nutrition of Staphylococcus aureus

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Abstract
S. aureus grows more luxuriantly in standard glucose meat-infusion broth than in Gladstone''s chemically-defined medium. When bacterial N was used as an index of growth the former medium gave values almost twice those obtained with the basal synthetic medium. Certain strains of S. aureus cannot grow on continued subculture in the medium of Gladstone. Evidence that these strains require the growth factor, biotin (bios IIB, vitamin H), in addition to nicotinic acid and vitamin B, is presented. Growth of several strains, whose nutritional requirements are satisfied by Gladstone''s medium, was not stimulated by the addition of biotin, bios IIb or vitamin H concentrates. When the basal synthetic medium was supplemented with the growth factors riboflavin, pimelic acid, glutamine, vitamin 6, ino-sitol, pantothenic acid, cocarboxylase, cozymase, glutathione, uracil, guanine, adenine, adenylic acid, and adenosine tri-phosphate, there was no demonstrable influence on growth. If these substances are essential for growth, the organism can apparently synthesize them from the ingredients in the basal medium. The fact that the highest bacterial N values were obtained in glucose meat-infusion broth seems to indicate that the chemically-defined media studied lacked one or more chem. ingredients necessary for optimum growth. Possibly, physical differences of the media may also be involved.