It is the purpose of this investigation to test for serological characteristics of six Streptomyces species which exhibit identical and/or very closely similar morphological and biochemical characteristics.

This investigation involved isolation and characterization of specific antigenic materials from known species of Streptomyces. The resulting antigens were then used to establish serological relationships between a number of different species. These groupings were, in turn, compared with similar studies recently established by the ISP, in which other taxonomic criteria were used. By these means, the serological characteristics of the Streptomyces were evaluated for their potential utility as added taxonomic tools in the establishment of species designations within this group.

For this work, the decision was made to contrast two serological tests, that of the tube agglutination technique and the fluorescent antibody technique for correlation with the coagulase and other characteristics of Staphylococcus strains. This has been a preliminary survey in the hope that as further knowledge is obtained about the staphylococci, grouping of the organisms will become more routine and relatively less complex.