Isolation of a Soil Coccus capable of utilizing ‘Tween 80’ as a Sole Source of Carbon

Abstract

IT is interesting that some organisms can utilize as their source of carbon a synthetic substance such as ‘Tween 80’ (polyoxyethylene sorbitanmono-oleate). My collaborators and I¹ have proved that tubercle bacilli can utilize ‘Tween 80’ as a sole source of carbon, and Yamane et al. ² then devised a simple and practicable ‘Tween’-agar medium for tubercle bacilli containing ‘Tween 80’ as a main source of carbon. I wished to investigate³ the details of the mechanisms of ‘Tween’ metabolism, but tubercle bacilli are not suitable for this purpose because their growth is so slow, their endogenous substrates are too abundant⁴, and experiments with the bacilli can be dangerous. I therefore decided to try to isolate bacteria more suitable for the purpose from the soil.