Isolation and Growth of a Pseudomonas Species that Utilizes Cyanide as a Source of Nitrogen

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Abstract
A simple method of isolating bacteria that utilize cyanide as a source of N for growth was developed. This involved supplying hydrogen cyanide as a vapor to glucose-containing minimal-salts agar plates. The bacteria isolated were gram-negative, oxidase-positive rods producing a fluorescent green pigment and were tentatively identified as strains of P. fluorescens. Three organisms were studied further and are P. fluorescens biotype 2. One of these (NCIB 11,764) was grown in a glucose-containing fed-batch culture with NH4Cl or KCN as the limiting nutrient. Cyanide-grown bacteria produced stoichiometric amounts of ammonia from cyanide when pulsed with cyanide under aerobic conditions. Stimulation of O2 uptake was seen on addition of cyanide to suspensions of cyanide-grown but not ammonia-grown bacteria.
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