Abstract
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1.
Culture filtrates of heterotrophic bacteria were tested for their stimulatory effect on nitrification of three strains of Nitrobacter.
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2.
Yeast extract-peptone solution, in which Pseudomonas fluorescens had grown, after removal of the cells was added to autotrophically growing cultures of Nitrobacter agilis; it caused a stimulated nitrite oxidation and growth of Nitrobacter agilis.
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3.
The degree of stimulation depended on: a) the proportion of the culture filtrate to the autotrophic medium; b) the composition of the complex medium in which Pseudomonas fluorescens had been grown; c) the time the heterotrophic bacterium had been grown in the complex medium.
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4.
The stimulatory effect was highest with Nitrobacter agilis, less with Nitrobacter winogradskyi and negligible with Nitrobacter K 4.
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5.
It was possible to adapt nitrifying cells of Nitrobacter agilis to higher concentrations of yeast extract and peptone. After the nitrite had been completely oxidized the cell-N still increased up to 30% before growth stopped.
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Abbreviations
- M-solution:
-
solution for mixotrophic growth
- MPs-solution:
-
M-solution obtained from a Pseudomonas culture
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Steinmüller, W., Bock, E. Growth of Nitrobacter in the presence of organic matter. Arch. Microbiol. 108, 299–304 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00454856
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00454856