Emendation of Methylobacillus Yordy and Weaver 1977, a Genus for Methanol-Utilizing Bacteria

Abstract

The group 1 methanol-utilizing bacteria examined in this study are gram-negative, nonsporeforming, rod-shaped organisms which use the ribulose monophosphate pathway for methanol utilization. These organisms are generally motile by means of a single polar flagellum, but a small number of strains are nonmotile, and although most are obligately methylotrophic, several strains utilize d-fructose in addition to methanol. Their deoxyribonucleic acid base composition ranges from 50.0 to 56.0 mol% guanine plus cytosine. Their cellular fatty acids consist predominantly of large amounts of straight-chain saturated C16:0 acid and unsaturated C16:1 acid. The major ubiquinone is Q-8, and Q-7 and Q-9 are present as minor components. Type strain TK 0113 (= Yordy and Weaver T-11 = ATCC 29475 = JCM 2850 = NCIB 11375) of Methylobacillus glycogenes is included in this group. The genus Methylobacillus was established based on the description of only one nonmotile strain, which does not utilize d-fructose. Therefore, we propose emendation of the genus Methylobacillus and Methylobacillus glycogenes, in which polarly flagellated organisms and d-fructose-utilizing organisms are included.