''Acinetobacter calcoaceticus'' is a bacterial species of the genus ''

Acinetobacter ''Acinetobacter'' is a genus of gram-negative bacteria belonging to the wider class of Gammaproteobacteria. ''Acinetobacter'' species are oxidase-negative, exhibit twitching motility, and occur in pairs under magnification. They are important ...

''. It is a nonmotile,

Gram-negative Gram-negative bacteria are bacteria that do not retain the crystal violet stain used in the Gram staining method of bacterial differentiation. They are characterized by their cell envelopes, which are composed of a thin peptidoglycan cell wall ...

coccobacillus A coccobacillus (plural coccobacilli), or bacilluscocco, is a type of bacterium with a shape intermediate between cocci (spherical bacteria) and bacilli (rod-shaped bacteria). Coccobacilli, then, are very short rods which may be mistaken for cocci ...

. It grows under aerobic conditions, is catalase positive and oxidase negative. ''A. calcoaceticus'' is a part of the A. calcoaceticus-A. baumannii complex together with ''Acinetobacter baumannii'', ''Acinetobacter nosocomialis'', ''Acinetobacter pitti'' and ''Acinetobacter seifertii''.

Habitat

''A. calcoaceticus'' is a soil bacterium. It has been shown to be prevalent in the tiger mosquito ''

Aedes albopictus ''Aedes albopictus'' (''Stegomyia albopicta''), from the mosquito (Culicidae) family, also known as the (Asian) tiger mosquito or forest mosquito, is a mosquito native to the tropical and subtropical areas of Southeast Asia. In the past few ce ...

'' microflora.

Metabolism

Phloroglucinol carboxylic acid is a degradation product excreted by ''A. calcoaceticus'' grown on (+)-

catechin Catechin is a flavan-3-ol, a type of secondary metabolite providing antioxidant roles in plants. It belongs to the subgroup of polyphenols called flavonoids. The name of the catechin chemical family derives from ''catechu'', which is the tannic ...

as the sole source of carbon.

Uses

''A. calcoaceticus'' can be used as an alternative to ''A. baumannii'' in the laboratory setting. The interchangeability of the two species stems from their extreme degree of similarity and ability to form the A. calcoaceticus-A. baumannii complex. Other contributing factors include the cost-effective nature of ''A. calcoaceticus'' compared to ''A. baumannii'' and the ability of ''A. calcoaceticus'' to readily uptake DNA.

References

External links

Acinetobacter calcoaceticus on www.ncbi.nlm.nih.govType strain of ''Acinetobacter calcoaceticus'' at Bac''Dive'' - the Bacterial Diversity Metadatabase
Moraxellaceae {{Pseudomonadales-stub