Reproductive Processes in Proteus Cultures.

Abstract

SummaryThe complex reproductive processes formerly observed in certain Gram-negative bacteria have also been observed in Proteus cultures. In this species they presented several distinctive characteristics. The large bodies in every case previously studied were produced by gradual swelling of the bacteria. In Proteus they are produced by a process known as “plasmoptysis.” The large bodies so produced possess similar physical properties and show reproductive processes similar to those formed in other species by swelling of the bacteria.Another characteristic of Proteus is that the bacteria from which the large bodies develop differ considerably from the bacteria usually present in the culture. Large bodies develop only from spreading filaments actively motile on solid media. In almost every culture these filaments produce an occasional large body, and most of them are transformed into large bodies when the spreading halo of one strain meets the spreading halo of another appropriate strain. The large bodies...