ISOLATION AND PROPERTIES OF AN EXTREMELY THERMOPHILIC XYLANOLYTIC BACTERIUM

A strain of extremely thermophilic, anaerobic, xylanolytic bacterium w as isolated from the hot spring in Kangding County, Sichuan Province, and it was gram-reaction negative, immobile, non-sporeformative with i ts cells arranged single or in pairs, 0.7-1.0 mu m wide and 2.0-5.0 mu m long. After being cultured at 75 degrees C for 3 d on xylan agar ro lling tube, its colonies were rounded, convex, smooth in margin and tr ansparent, and could not produce pigments, but could produce carbon di oxide, hydrogen, lactic acid, acetic acid and trace ethanol during the fermentation of xylan.