Chitinophaga, a New Genus of Chitinolytic Myxobacteria

Abstract

Five strains of a long, filamentous, gliding microorganism which produces myxospores by transformation of filaments to spherical bodies without the production of a fruiting body were isolated from widely separated sources. These organisms are strongly chitinolytic but are not cellulolytic. We propose a new genus, Chitinophaga, containing a single species, Chitinophaga pinensis sp. nov., for these strains. The type strain is UQM 2034.