The nitrogen requirements of 96 Gluconobacter, 55 Acetobacter and 7 Frateuria strains were examined. Only some Frateuria strains were able to grow on 0.5% yeast extract broth or 0.5% peptone broth. In the presence of D-glucose or D-mannitol as a carbon source, ammonium was used as the sole source of nitrogen by all three genera. With ethanol, only a few Acetobacter strains grew on ammonium as a sole nitrogen source. Single L-amino acids cannot serve as a sole source of carbon and nitrogen for growth of Gluconobacter, Acetobacter or Frateuria. The single L-amino acids which were used by most strains as a sole nitrogen source for growth are: asparagine, aspartic acid, glutamine, glutamic acid, proline and alanine. Some Acetobacter and Gluconobacter strains deaminated alanine, asparagine, glutamic acid, threonine, serine and proline. No Frateuria strain was able to develop on cysteine, glycine, threonine or tryptophan as a sole source of nitrogen for growth. An inhibitory effect of valine may explain the absence of growth on this amino acid. No amino acid is "essential" for Gluconobacter, Acetobacter or Frateuria.