According to the series of test that my group ran for our unknown specimen, we had a match with the bacteria known as Alcaligenes Faecalis. This bacterium belongs to one of the major group of gram-negative bacteria (Phylum Proteobacteria). Alcaligenes Faecalis (Genus, species) is a rod shaped (bacillus), 0.5-1.2 x 1.0-3.0 µm, round with scalloped margin (colony configuration growth), motile (with one to nine peritrichous flagella), gram-negative, non-fermentative bacteria, obligate aerobic, having oxygen as the principal terminal electron acceptor in the electron transport chain (ETC). We consider we have a match with the species Alcaligenes Faecalis because of the following reasons: Fermentation tests performed (Durham sugars) were negative, which indicate that our bacteria use a different metabolic means for growth (non-fermentative gram-negative bacteria). …show more content…
We got negative for indole (no production of indole, pyruvic acid and ammonia), negative for Methyl Red (our bacteria does not perform mixed-acid fermentation when supplied glucose), negative for Voges-Proskauer (no fermentation of glucose in order to produce 2,3-Butanediol-Butanediol fermentation), but positive for Citrate utilization, which means our bacteria uses citrate as a sole carbon source and energy. Something interesting here is that according to the lab textbook organism that degrade citrate must also use ammonium salts, and in the process, they produce ammonia that causes the medium to become alkaline (under this condition the medium turns to deep Prussian blue, indicating the utilization of citrate). The genus Alcaligenes is well known for being alkali-producing