Studies on microbial population in coastal waters - V. Generic composition and physiological properties of nitrogen-scavenging bacteria isolated from marine environments.

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Nitrogen-scavenging bacteria were isolated from the waters of Ise Bay, Owase Bay, Kumano Nada, Satsunan Shoto and the surrounding areas during 1983-1986.Most of the nitrogen scavengers were gram negative, asporogenous motile rods with polar flagella. All isolates were capable of assimilating NH4+ as a sole source of nitrogen. Pseudomonas (52.3%) was the most dominant bacterial genus. Pseudomonas and Vibrio comprised 78.5% of the nitrogen-scavenging bacteria isolated from coastal and oceanic waters of Japan.The optimum temperature, pH and NaCl concentration for the growth of the representative strains S10, S14 and S174 was near 30°C, pH 7.0-7.5, and 4.0-6.0% (w/v), respectively. Glucose was effective for the growth of nitrogen scavengers. Nitrogen-scavenging bacteria effectively utilized NH4Cl among nitrogenous compounds tested as a source of nitrogen.