Nutrition of Vitreoscilla stercoraria

The present study has shown that the glutamate or aspartate families, plus the aromatic amino acid family are required for growth of Vitreoscilla stercoraria. Furthermore, glutamine can substitute for the glutamate family, asparagine and methionine can replace the aspartate family, and tyrosine can substitute for the aromatic family. Amino acids which are easily oxidized by this organism, particularly serine and cysteine, stimulated growth. From these data, a defined medium was devised, which contained the fewest amino acids that could support good growth of V. stercoraria.