[Methylotrophic bacteria in the sphere of drinking water. 2. Communication: biochemical/physiological and morphological characterisation of the isolated bacteria].

720 bacteria from 18 water samples were isolated under conditions which are expected to be selective for methylotrophic bacteria. The water samples derived from 11 different water plants including 5 which had to treat methane containing groundwater. All isolates had been characterized by 130 properties using the morphological features of the colonies and the cells as well as physiological and biochemical tests. Numerical and classical principles of taxonomy were applied to the data. Only 20% of the isolated bacteria pointed out to be methylotrophic, even the portion of obligate methylotrophic organisms was only 1%.