LIPOQUINONES OF SOME SPORE-FORMING RODS, LACTIC-ACID BACTERIA AND ACTINOMYCETES

The respiratory quinones of 73 strains of Gram-positive bacteria including spore-forming rods, lactic-acid bacteria and actinomycetes were examined. Menaquinones with seven isoprenoid units (MK-7) were the main quinone type found in representatives of the genus Bacillus and in Sporolactobacillus inulinus. However, a strain of B. thuringiensis produced MK-8 in addition to MK-7, and strains of B. lentus and b. pantothenticus appeared to produce MK-9 and MK-8, respectively, with no MK-7. In the clostridia and lactic-acid bacteria, no quinones were found, except in Pediococcus cerevisiae NCTC 8066 and Lactobacillus casei subsp. rhamnosus ATCC 7469, which contained menaquinones, and Streptococcus faecalis NCTC 775 and HIM 478-1, which contained demethylmenaquinones, in relatively low concentrations. Menaquinones were also found in the actinomycetes (except Actinomyces odontolyticus and Bifidobacterium bifidum which did not produce any quinones) and in Protaminobacter abloflavus aTCC 8458, the so-called Actinobacillus actinoides ATCC 15900 and Noguchia granulosis NCTC 10559.