Facultative wood-digesting bacteria from the hind-gut of the termite Reticulitermes hesperus

Abstract

Among the facultative bacteria capable of growth on mesquite wood which were isolated from the asceptically dissected hind-gut of the termite Reticulitermes hesperus were two strains of Bacillus cereus, one strain each of Arthrobacter, Alcaligenes and Serratia, and a very small Gram-negative fermentative rod. The B. cereus strains, the Serratia marcescens strain and the Arthrobacter sp. grew well on a mineral salts alpha-cellusose agar. One of the Bacillus cereus strains and Serratia marcescens hydrolysed gels of carboxymethylcellulose. All isolates grew well with mesquite wood as the carbon source. The Serratia marcescens isolate produced prodigiosin but differed from a typed strain both in size and in some physiological characteristics.