Differentiation of genera of the coryneform bacteria.

A scheme of the generic structure of the group of coryneform bacteria, including the genera Arthrobacter, Brevibacterium, Cellulomonas, Corynebacterium, and Rhodococcus, is suggested. Morphological, chemotaxonomic (presence and stereochemical form of diaminopimelic acid, lipid A, and L-arabinose), and physiological features were used as diagnostic criteria. The position of Microbacterum and Mycococcus and of coryneforms with a nocardial wall but giving a positive Hugh-Leifson anaerobic test, and also of Arthrobacter pascens, which may be identical with Mycoplana sp., remains uncertain.