Fortunately, the goal of understanding symbiotic associations was supported by
perseverance in the direction of advancing scientific knowledge.
I have found two difficulties in preparing a review of old microbiology literature.
The first is that, by my experience, very often old publications are cited as containing
information which indeed was not present in those publications. The second is that a
majority of these microbiology articles were published in German, which I barely
can read. For those reasons, I began my review efforts for this essay by creating
digital versions of the German language publications using optical character reading
programs, then I used an internet translation program to create English language
versions of those articles, and I worked from those translated texts.
Hopefully you will enjoy this summary of those old publications and find the
process to have been insightul. I have included in chronological order publications
by: Mikhail Stepanovich Voronin, Simon Schwendener, Albert Bernhard Frank,
Heinrich Anton de Bary, Franz Friedrich Schindler, Jørgen Brunchorst, Karl
Andreas Heinrich Brandt, Hermann Hellriegel and Hermann Wilfarth, Martinus
Willem Beijerinck, Harry Marshall Ward, George T. Moore, Charles Bernard
Lipman and Lawrence W. Fowler, Paul Ernst Christof Buchner, Edmund Newton
Harvey, Lemuel Roscoe Cleveland, George E. Helz with Ira Lawrence Baldwin and
Edwin Broun Fred, Frank Sherwood Taylor, and Howard H. M. Bowman.
14.2 “Über die Bei der Schwarzerle (Alnus Glutinosä) und
der Gewöhnlichen Garten-Lupine (Lupinus Mutabilis)
Auftretenden Wurzelanschwellungen” by Mikhail
Voronin, 1866
Mikhail Stepanovich Voronin (Woronin 1866) concluded that the nodular root
growths on black alder (Alnus glutinosa), and the bulbous root outgrowths of lupine
(Lupinus), are in some ways identical phenomena and in both cases the appearance is
caused by a foreign organism.
He thought that the nodular growths on black alder roots, which we now know are
associated with endosymbiont actinobacteria of the genus Frankia, were reproductive organs of an endophytic fungal parasite which penetrates into the tree roots. He
named that fungal parasite Schinzia alni.
Voronin mentioned the root nodules of lupine plants (genus Lupinus) to contain
small rod shaped organisms that voluntarily were very motile in water, that those
organisms would come to rest, would break apart, and then form new rod shaped
organisms as their sprouts. He had no success in culturing those organisms. He said
that the organisms in lupine nodules looked like either bacteria, vibrio or zooglea.
His conclusion was that the organisms in lupine root nodules were a type of vibrio.
We now recognize the microbes associated with lupines as being endosymbiotic
alphaproteobacteria of several genera including Rhizobium.
214
C. J. Hurst
perseverance in the direction of advancing scientific knowledge.
I have found two difficulties in preparing a review of old microbiology literature.
The first is that, by my experience, very often old publications are cited as containing
information which indeed was not present in those publications. The second is that a
majority of these microbiology articles were published in German, which I barely
can read. For those reasons, I began my review efforts for this essay by creating
digital versions of the German language publications using optical character reading
programs, then I used an internet translation program to create English language
versions of those articles, and I worked from those translated texts.
Hopefully you will enjoy this summary of those old publications and find the
process to have been insightul. I have included in chronological order publications
by: Mikhail Stepanovich Voronin, Simon Schwendener, Albert Bernhard Frank,
Heinrich Anton de Bary, Franz Friedrich Schindler, Jørgen Brunchorst, Karl
Andreas Heinrich Brandt, Hermann Hellriegel and Hermann Wilfarth, Martinus
Willem Beijerinck, Harry Marshall Ward, George T. Moore, Charles Bernard
Lipman and Lawrence W. Fowler, Paul Ernst Christof Buchner, Edmund Newton
Harvey, Lemuel Roscoe Cleveland, George E. Helz with Ira Lawrence Baldwin and
Edwin Broun Fred, Frank Sherwood Taylor, and Howard H. M. Bowman.
14.2 “Über die Bei der Schwarzerle (Alnus Glutinosä) und
der Gewöhnlichen Garten-Lupine (Lupinus Mutabilis)
Auftretenden Wurzelanschwellungen” by Mikhail
Voronin, 1866
Mikhail Stepanovich Voronin (Woronin 1866) concluded that the nodular root
growths on black alder (Alnus glutinosa), and the bulbous root outgrowths of lupine
(Lupinus), are in some ways identical phenomena and in both cases the appearance is
caused by a foreign organism.
He thought that the nodular growths on black alder roots, which we now know are
associated with endosymbiont actinobacteria of the genus Frankia, were reproductive organs of an endophytic fungal parasite which penetrates into the tree roots. He
named that fungal parasite Schinzia alni.
Voronin mentioned the root nodules of lupine plants (genus Lupinus) to contain
small rod shaped organisms that voluntarily were very motile in water, that those
organisms would come to rest, would break apart, and then form new rod shaped
organisms as their sprouts. He had no success in culturing those organisms. He said
that the organisms in lupine nodules looked like either bacteria, vibrio or zooglea.
His conclusion was that the organisms in lupine root nodules were a type of vibrio.
We now recognize the microbes associated with lupines as being endosymbiotic
alphaproteobacteria of several genera including Rhizobium.
214
C. J. Hurst