[Characteristics of the ultrastructural organization of Actinomyces rimosus and Actinomyces violocinereus in monocultures and in an association producing extracellular proteases].

The ultrastructural organization of Actinomyces rimosus and Actinomyces violocinereus was compared in monocultures and in associations. The cells of the two species can be discriminated by certain cytological characteristics. A rimosus predominated under the studied conditions and periods of growth. This organism had growth processes disordered (intrahyphal growth). A. violocinereus was characterized by the following processes in the association: peptidoglycan hypersynthesis, formation of calloses of the cell wall which occurred in parallel to hypertrophy of mesosomes, a loss of the capability to form capsules, and delayed spore formation. The reduced synthesis of granular and fibrillar material indicated that these products were not associated with exoprotease. The enzymatic activity was higher and could be detected in earlier in the association than in the monoculture of A. rimosus.