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Bacteriological Reviews Dec 1970
Review
Topics: Antigens; Bacterial Proteins; Bacteriophage Typing; Cell Nucleus; Cell Wall; Corynebacterium; Corynebacterium diphtheriae; Diphtheria Toxin; Glycolipids; Inclusion Bodies; Lipids; Microscopy, Electron; Mycobacterium; Nocardia; Species Specificity; Starch; Tellurium
PubMed: 4322195
DOI: 10.1128/br.34.4.378-422.1970 -
Annales de Biologie Clinique 1998The microbiologists use the term corynebacteria to describe aerobically growing, asporogenous, irregularly sharped gram-positive rods. They comprise strictly aerobic... (Review)
Review
The microbiologists use the term corynebacteria to describe aerobically growing, asporogenous, irregularly sharped gram-positive rods. They comprise strictly aerobic bacteria isolated from environment as well as preferentially anaerobic bacteria found in clinical specimens. A large part of these bacteria is considered as commensal of skin and mucous membranes. This group of organisms has recently been subjected to considerable taxonomic revisions, which have resulted in the proposal of several new species, many of them representing previous Centers for Diseases Control coryneform groups. Moreover, recent investigations demonstrated the existence of a pathogenic role for some of them. These bacteria comprise well-known pathogens such as C. diphtheriae responsible for diphtheria, Actinomyces spp. responsible for actinomycosis and Arcanobacterium haemolyticum recovered from pharyngitis, but other corynebacteria were related to particular infections. For example, the lipophilic and antibiotics multiresistant species Corynebacterium urealyticum and C. jeikeium were found to be responsible for urinary tract infections and septicemias, respectively. The recently described species Turicella otitidis was found to be implicated in otitis media and C. seminale were recovered from genital specimens of male patients. Implantation of material devices, use of broad-spectrum antibiotics led to an increase of sepsis due to the species C. jeikeium and C. amycolatum. Many of the new Actinomyces species grow well under aerobic conditions and are often implicated in various abscesses. Moreover an increase of immunocompromised patients led to the development of infections due to the aerobic actinomycete Rhodococcus equi. The association of some corynebacteria with particular diseases should prompt the microbiologist to identify these bacteria when they are encountered in a pathogenic situation. Identification of the major part of corynebacteria isolated from clinical specimens can now be achieved by using recent schemes.
Topics: Anaerobiosis; Animals; Corynebacterium; Corynebacterium Infections; Female; Humans; Male; Prosthesis-Related Infections
PubMed: 9754261
DOI: No ID Found -
FEMS Microbiology Reviews Dec 2003Nitrogen is an essential component of nearly all complex macromolecules in a bacterial cell, such as proteins, nucleic acids and cell wall components. Accordingly, most... (Review)
Review
Nitrogen is an essential component of nearly all complex macromolecules in a bacterial cell, such as proteins, nucleic acids and cell wall components. Accordingly, most prokaryotes have developed elaborate control mechanisms to provide an optimal supply of nitrogen for cellular metabolism and to cope with situations of nitrogen limitation. In this review, recent advances in our knowledge of ammonium uptake, its assimilation, and related regulatory systems in Corynebacterium glutamicum, a Gram-positive soil bacterium used for the industrial production of amino acids, are summarized and discussed with respect to the situation in the bacterial model organisms, Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis, and in comparison to the situation in other actinomycetes, namely in mycobacteria and streptomycetes. The regulatory network of nitrogen control in C. glutamicum seems to be a patchwork of different elements. It includes proteins similar to the UTase/GlnK pathway of E. coli and expression regulation by a repressor protein as in B. subtilis, but it lacks an NtrB/NtrC two-component signal transduction system. Furthermore, the C. glutamicum regulation network has unique features, such as a new sensing mechanism. Based on its extremely well-investigated central metabolism, well-established molecular biology tools, a public genome sequence and a newly-established proteome project, C. glutamicum seems to be a suitable model organism for other corynebacteria, such as Corynebacterium diphtheriae and Corynebacterium efficiens.
Topics: Corynebacterium; Nitrogen; Quaternary Ammonium Compounds
PubMed: 14638415
DOI: 10.1016/S0168-6445(03)00067-6 -
Scientific Reports Mar 2021Infectious keratitis is a potentially sight threatening ophthalmological emergency. Contact lens wear is a common risk factor. Diagnostic advances such as MALDI-TOF MS...
Infectious keratitis is a potentially sight threatening ophthalmological emergency. Contact lens wear is a common risk factor. Diagnostic advances such as MALDI-TOF MS provides new insights into the spectrum of corneal pathogens and on microbes previously considered as commensals. Corynebacterium macginleyi was described in 1995, and in 2018, the genomic features of three isolates were reported after whole-genome sequencing. Here we describe the clinical characteristics of patients with infectious keratitis (n = 29) presumably caused by Corynebacterium macginleyi, and analyze the genomic features of C. macginleyi (n = 22) isolated from the corneal ulcers of these patients. The disease course was uneventful apart from minor interventions such as corneal cross-linking and amniotic membrane transplant. Genome sequencing and comparison revealed a highly conserved core genome of C. macginleyi. Based on the analyses of single nucleotide polymorphisms, the population could be divided into two main clades that also differed in a few clade-specific genomic islands. Patients infected with an isolate belonging to the minor clade (n = 7) presented a more severe disease. Comparisons with other corynebacterial species clearly separated C. macginleyi. C. macginleyi may be considered a corneal pathogen; genomic analysis provided insights into its population structure and disease-causing potential.
Topics: Adult; Aged; Corynebacterium; Corynebacterium Infections; Female; Humans; Keratitis; Male; Middle Aged; Retrospective Studies; Whole Genome Sequencing
PubMed: 33727638
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-85336-w -
Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology Jun 2012In bacteria, adaptation to changing environmental conditions is often mediated by two-component signal transduction systems. In the prototypical case, a specific... (Review)
Review
In bacteria, adaptation to changing environmental conditions is often mediated by two-component signal transduction systems. In the prototypical case, a specific stimulus is sensed by a membrane-bound histidine kinase and triggers autophosphorylation of a histidine residue. Subsequently, the phosphoryl group is transferred to an aspartate residue of the cognate response regulator, which then becomes active and mediates a specific response, usually by activating and/or repressing a set of target genes. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge on two-component signal transduction in Corynebacterium glutamicum. This Gram-positive soil bacterium is used for the large-scale biotechnological production of amino acids and can also be applied for the synthesis of a wide variety of other products, such as organic acids, biofuels, or proteins. Therefore, C. glutamicum has become an important model organism in industrial biotechnology and in systems biology. The type strain ATCC 13032 possesses 13 two-component systems and the role of five has been elucidated in recent years. They are involved in citrate utilization (CitAB), osmoregulation and cell wall homeostasis (MtrAB), adaptation to phosphate starvation (PhoSR), adaptation to copper stress (CopSR), and heme homeostasis (HrrSA). As C. glutamicum does not only face changing conditions in its natural environment, but also during cultivation in industrial bioreactors of up to 500 m(3) volume, adaptability can also be crucial for good performance in biotechnological production processes. Detailed knowledge on two-component signal transduction and regulatory networks therefore will contribute to both the application and the systemic understanding of C. glutamicum and related species.
Topics: Corynebacterium glutamicum; Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; Histidine Kinase; Protein Kinases; Signal Transduction; Stress, Physiological; Transcription Factors; Transcription, Genetic
PubMed: 22539022
DOI: 10.1007/s00253-012-4060-x -
Journal of Medical Microbiology Oct 2012Bacteria of the genus Corynebacterium are important primary and opportunistic pathogens. Many are zoonotic agents. In this report, phenotypic (API Coryne analysis),...
Bacteria of the genus Corynebacterium are important primary and opportunistic pathogens. Many are zoonotic agents. In this report, phenotypic (API Coryne analysis), genetic (rpoB and 16S rRNA gene sequencing), and physical methods (MS) were used to distinguish the closely related diphtheroid species Corynebacterium ulcerans and Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis, and to definitively diagnose Corynebacterium renale from cephalic implants of rhesus (Macaca mulatta) and cynomolgus (Macaca fascicularis) macaques used in cognitive neuroscience research. Throat and cephalic implant cultures yielded 85 isolates from 43 macaques. Identification by API Coryne yielded C. ulcerans (n = 74), Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis (n = 2), C. renale or most closely related to C. renale (n = 3), and commensals and opportunists (n = 6). The two isolates identified as C. pseudotuberculosis by API Coryne required genetic and MS analysis for accurate characterization as C. ulcerans. Of three isolates identified as C. renale by 16S rRNA gene sequencing, only one could be confirmed as such by API Coryne, rpoB gene sequencing and MS. This study emphasizes the importance of adjunct methods in identification of coryneforms and is the first isolation of C. renale from cephalic implants in macaques.
Topics: Animals; Bacterial Proteins; Base Sequence; Corynebacterium; Corynebacterium Infections; DNA, Bacterial; DNA, Ribosomal; Female; Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; Macaca; Male; Monkey Diseases; Oropharynx; Phylogeny; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Prosthesis-Related Infections; RNA, Bacterial; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization
PubMed: 22723254
DOI: 10.1099/jmm.0.045377-0 -
MSphere Aug 2018Daptomycin, a last-line-of-defense antibiotic for treating Gram-positive infections, is experiencing clinical failure against important infectious agents, including The...
Daptomycin, a last-line-of-defense antibiotic for treating Gram-positive infections, is experiencing clinical failure against important infectious agents, including The recent transition of daptomycin to generic status is projected to dramatically increase availability, use, and clinical failure. Here we confirm the genetic mechanism of high-level daptomycin resistance (HLDR; MIC = >256 µg/ml) in , which evolved within a patient during daptomycin therapy, a phenotype recapitulated In all 8 independent cases tested, loss-of-function mutations in phosphatidylglycerol synthase () were necessary and sufficient for high-level daptomycin resistance. Through lipidomic and biochemical analysis, we demonstrate that daptomycin's activity is dependent on the membrane phosphatidylglycerol (PG) concentration. Until now, the verification of PG as the target of daptomycin has proven difficult since tested cell model systems were not viable without membrane PG. becomes daptomycin resistant at a high level by removing PG from the membrane and changing the membrane composition to maintain viability. This work demonstrates that loss-of-function mutation in and the loss of membrane PG are necessary and sufficient to produce high-level resistance to daptomycin in Antimicrobial resistance threatens the efficacy of antimicrobial treatment options, including last-line-of-defense drugs. Understanding how this resistance develops can help direct antimicrobial stewardship efforts and is critical to designing the next generation of antimicrobial therapies. Here we determine how , a skin commensal and opportunistic pathogen, evolved high-level resistance to a drug of last resort, daptomycin. Through a single mutation, this pathogen was able to remove the daptomycin's target, phosphatidylglycerol (PG), from the membrane and evade daptomycin's bactericidal activity. We found that additional compensatory changes were not necessary to support the removal of PG and replacement with phosphatidylinositol (PI). The ease with which evolved high-level resistance is cause for alarm and highlights the importance of screening new antimicrobials against a wide range of clinical pathogens which may harbor unique capacities for resistance evolution.
Topics: Anti-Bacterial Agents; Cell Membrane; Corynebacterium; Corynebacterium Infections; Daptomycin; Drug Resistance, Bacterial; Humans; Microbial Sensitivity Tests; Mutation; Phosphatidylglycerols; Transferases (Other Substituted Phosphate Groups)
PubMed: 30089649
DOI: 10.1128/mSphereDirect.00371-18 -
Systematic and Applied Microbiology Jan 2020Clinical and environmental-associated strains (n=17), genotypically related to Corynebacterium spp., yet distinct from any species of the genus Corynebacterium with...
Clinical and environmental-associated strains (n=17), genotypically related to Corynebacterium spp., yet distinct from any species of the genus Corynebacterium with validly published names, have been isolated during the last 20 years and tentatively identified as Corynebacterium sanguinis, although the combination, "Corynebacterium sanguinis" was never validly published. The comprehensive genotypic and phenotypic characterisations and genomic analyses in this study support the proposal for recognizing the species within the genus Corynebacterium, for which the name, Corynebacterium sanguinis sp. nov., is reaffirmed and proposed. Strains of Corynebacterium sanguinis are Gram-positive, non-motile, non-spore-forming, short, pleomorphic and coryneform bacilli, growing aerobically, with CO. They contain mycolic acids, major respiratory menaquinones, MK-8 (II-H) and MK-9 (II-H), and polar lipids, phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylinositol, phosphoglycolipid, glycolipids and a novel lipid that remains to be characterized and identified. Strains of Corynebacterium sanguinis are genotypically most similar to Corynebacterium lipophiliflavum, with 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities of 98.3% and rpoB sequence similarities of 94.9-95.2%. Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) analysis were able to clearly differentiate Corynebacterium sanguinis from the most closely related species. The genome size of Corynebacterium sanguinis is 2.28-2.37Mbp with 65.1-65.5mol% G+C content. A total of 2202-2318 ORFs were predicted, comprising 2141-2251 protein-encoding genes. The type strain is CCUG 58655 (=CCM 8873=NCTC 14287).
Topics: Bacterial Proteins; Base Composition; Corynebacterium; Corynebacterium Infections; DNA, Bacterial; Environmental Microbiology; Fatty Acids; Genome Size; Genome, Bacterial; Glycolipids; Humans; Nucleic Acid Hybridization; Phospholipids; Phylogeny; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Species Specificity; Vitamin K 2
PubMed: 31776051
DOI: 10.1016/j.syapm.2019.126039 -
European Journal of Clinical... Jul 2019Corynebacterium coyleae is part of the commensal microflora of the skin, urethra, mucous membranes, and genital tract. Isolates from patients with urinary tract...
Corynebacterium coyleae is part of the commensal microflora of the skin, urethra, mucous membranes, and genital tract. Isolates from patients with urinary tract infection (UTI) were reported, but the pathogenic potential of this species has not been defined yet. The aim of the study is to determine whether C. coyleae could be the etiological agent of UTI and to analyze its antibiotic susceptibility. Urine samples were cultured quantitatively according to accepted laboratory procedures. The identification of bacterial isolates was carried out using the Vitek MS (bioMérieux) and antibiotic susceptibility was tested using disc diffusion according to EUCAST guidelines. Between 1 January 2017 and 30 October 2018, a total of 39 C. coyleae strains were isolated. This represented 0.32% of all urine samples cultured in the laboratory during the collection period. The strains were isolated from samples obtained from 35 women and 3 men (age median for all-64 years). One female patient presented with C. coyleae in her urine twice at an interval of 21 months. In six cases of UTI, C. coyleae was isolated in monoculture. The isolates had the same resistance pattern. A total of 11 strains were obtained from cases with a clinical diagnosis of UTI. In 13 cases, the strain was cultured in a monoculture and in 28 cases with accompanying species. All strains were susceptible to vancomycin. However, resistance to ciprofloxacin was observed for 58.4% of the strains. Urine isolates of C. coyleae must be considered as contamination or normal flora in most cases (28/39, 72%). In the remaining cases, it can be considered as potential etiologic agents, mostly in women and especially in the 6 UTI cases where C. coyleae was found as the single culture-positive species. Several of these isolates demonstrate resistance to antibiotics commonly used in empiric treatment of urinary tract infections.
Topics: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Ciprofloxacin; Corynebacterium; Corynebacterium Infections; Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial; Female; Humans; Male; Microbial Sensitivity Tests; Middle Aged; Retrospective Studies; Urinary Tract; Urinary Tract Infections; Young Adult
PubMed: 31030337
DOI: 10.1007/s10096-019-03565-4 -
Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek Aug 2020The genus Corynebacterium includes species of biotechnological, medical and veterinary importance. An atypical C. ulcerans strain, W25, was recently isolated from a case...
The genus Corynebacterium includes species of biotechnological, medical and veterinary importance. An atypical C. ulcerans strain, W25, was recently isolated from a case of necrotizing lymphadenitis in a wild boar. In this study, we have analysed the genome sequence of this strain and compared the phenotypic and virulence properties with other corynebacterial pathogens. Phylogenomic analyses revealed that strain W25 belongs to a novel species along with PO100/5 and KL1196. The latter strains were isolated from a pig and a roe deer, respectively; hence, this species appears to be associated to animals. The isolate W25 is likely a non-toxigenic tox gene bearing strain and may have compromised abilities to adhere to pharyngeal and laryngeal epithelial cells due to potential loss of the gene functions in spaBC and spaDEF pilus gene clusters. A number of corynebacterial virulence genes are present including pld encoding phospholipase D. Therefore, this strain may be able to cause severe invasive infections in animals and zoonotic infections in humans.
Topics: Animals; Bacterial Toxins; Corynebacterium; Corynebacterium Infections; Deer; Fimbriae, Bacterial; Genome, Bacterial; Humans; Multigene Family; Phylogeny; Swine; Virulence; Virulence Factors; Zoonoses
PubMed: 32500295
DOI: 10.1007/s10482-020-01430-5