The pigments of Micrococcus tetragenus: VI. Micrococcus Tetragenus Infection.

A pattern of variation of Micrococcus tetragenw9 (Reimann, 1936 a, b), the transformation of its bacterial types (Reimann, 1937 a), and the significance of bacterial variation (Reimann, 1937 b,) were described and discussed in a series of papers published in this Journal. A strain of M. tetragenus isolated from the blood of a patient produced white colonies on agar, (Reimann, 1935). During the course of several years' study under a variety of cultural conditions, four distinct "types" were derived from the original white form. The five types were named White, Yellow, Pink, Pink-yellow and Brown because of the characteristic color of the colonies of each type. Besides these five types, a translucent form and a bacillary form were also encountered, but their position in the scheme of dissociation is not understood. Bacteria from each type were serologically specific, had numerous other constant biologic characteristics and were stable on subculture except for the occasional origin of a different type. Besides the tendency to spontaneous origin of type or transformation of one type into another, bacteria of each type, except the translucent form, in turn gave rise to the usual "culture phases"