Studies on a collection of strains of the genus Flavobacterium. 2. Nutritional studies.

An attempt has been made to further characterize the Flavobacterium groups found in an earlier study by determining utilizable carbon-energy sources. As a preliminary, it was initially tried to define minimal growth factor requirements. It was found likely that most of the Flavobacterium groups have amino acid requirements, but a requirement for vitamins was also established for some strains. Testing Flavobacteria for carbon-energy sources by the replica plating method was found sufficiently technically difficult as to result in dubious readings at times. However, the overall results of the carbon-energy tests are in good agreement with the subdivision resulting from the previously performed biochemical tests, and the validity of the groups delimited in the earlier study is confirmed.