The Nutritional Requirements and Biochemical Reactions of Corynebacterium bovis

S ummary . The cultural characteristics and biochemical reactions of 142 isolates of Corynebacterium bovis were examined and found to include the production of acid from glucose, fructose and glycerol, and the hydrolysis of urea. The reactions on lipolysis test media were equivocal, in part due to the inability of the organism to grow on some media, and also due to the doubtful validity of using Tween agar to test for lipase production. C. bovis demonstrated a requirement for serum, Tween 20 or 80, or egg yolk. In experiments carried out with fully defined liquid media this nutritional requirement was fulfilled by synthetic lecithin or Tween 80, or a mixture of both compounds.