Taxonomy of the Azotobacteraceae Determined by Using Immunoelectrophoresis

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Abstract
The similarities of various strains of Azotobacter spp. and Azomonas spp. to reference strains of Azotobacter paspali, A. vinelandii, A. chroococcum, Azomonas agilis, A. insignis and A. macrocytogenes were determined by rocket line immunoelectrophoresis. The strains of Azotobacter paspali and A. vinelandii used were immunologically more homogeneous than the strains of A. chroococcum studied, possibly due to the more diverse geographical origins of the A. chroococcum strains. Low values were obtained for the mean immunological distances (1 - proportion of immunoprecipitation bands shared between strains) between A. paspali and A. vinelandii strains, suggesting that these 2 spp. are immunologically closely related. Immunological distances from the A. chroococcum reference strain were similar for A. paspali and for other undisputed members of the genus Azotobacter, which makes it reasonable to retain A. paspali in this genus. When the 3 Azotobacter antisera were used, all Azotobacter spp. had mean immunological distances of < 0.5, whereas the Azomonas spp. were immunologically more distant, showing that the 6 spp. of Azotobacter form an immunologically related group which is distinct from the Azomonas spp. The results with the 3 Azomonas antisera show that each species of Azomonas is immunologically distant from the other species and from the Azotobacter spp. The immunoelectrophoretic results were compared with the molecular biological results of De Smedt et al. and the numerical taxonomic analysis of Thompson and Skerman.

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