SOME PHYSIOLOGICAL-PROPERTIES OF AN ITALIAN ISOLATE OF MICROTHRIX-PARVICELLA

''Microthrix parvicella'' strain RN1, isolated by micromanipulation fr om an activated sludge treatment plant in Italy, is phylogenetically i dentical to two ether isolates from Australia. Our Italian isolate of ''M. parvicella'' is a slow growing (mu max ranging from 0.3 to 0.5 d( -1)), aerobic organism that exhibits nutritional versatility, being ab le to utilize simple and complex compounds as carbon and nitrogen sour ces. in pure culture, the organism cannot grow anaerobically nor is it able to denitrify. Strain RN1 is able to grow both in aerobic and in microaerophilic conditions and this metabolic versatility could give i t a metabolic advantage in the activated Sludge milieu. (C) 1998 IAWQ. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.