Infection of procaryotic and eucaryotic microorganisms withMetallogenium

Abstract

To elucidate the biological characteristics ofMetallogenium, a study was undertaken into the effect of infection of such organisms unable to oxidize manganese as fungi, yeasts, and bacteria with an ultrafiltrate of this organism on the subsequent behavior of the resulting binary cultures. The infection of microorganism cultures is accompanied by (a) acquisition by the binary cultures of a persistent capacity to oxidize manganese, (b) evolution of the characteristic structures ofMetallogenium (c) inhibition of the growth of the inoculated cultures; the inhibition manifests itself by fungi losing their capacity for spore formation and pigmentation, the upsetting of cell division processes, and lysis of the cells of the infected cultures all the way to death. When a heated ultrafiltrate ofMetallogenium was used to infect microorganism cultures, no signs of infection were detected.Metallogenium may be hosted by an extremely broad range of microorganisms that are in no way allied to one another. The experimental results suggest thatMetallogenium is an organism capable of parasitizing lower eucaryotic and procaryotic microorganisms. Analysis of 134 strains of fungi isolated from freshwater bodies is indicative of possible parasitism ofMetallogenium on microorganisms in their natural habitats.