''Kocuria'' is a genus of

gram-positive bacteria In bacteriology, gram-positive bacteria are bacteria that give a positive result in the Gram stain test, which is traditionally used to quickly classify bacteria into two broad categories according to their type of cell wall. Gram-positive bact ...

. ''Kocuria'' is named after Miloslav Kocur, a Czech microbiologist. It has been found in the

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. Immune factors and immune ...

water deer The water deer (''Hydropotes inermis'') is a small deer superficially more similar to a musk deer than a true deer. Native to China and Korea, there are two subspecies: the Chinese water deer (''Hydropotes inermis inermis'') and the Korean water ...

and

reindeer Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...

. Cells are coccoid, resembling ''

Staphylococcus ''Staphylococcus'' is a genus of Gram-positive bacteria in the family Staphylococcaceae from the order Bacillales. Under the microscope, they appear spherical (cocci), and form in grape-like clusters. ''Staphylococcus'' species are facultative ...

'' and ''

Micrococcus ''Micrococcus'' (mi’ krō kŏk’ Əs) is a genus of bacteria in the Micrococcaceae family. ''Micrococcus'' occurs in a wide range of environments, including water, dust, and soil. Micrococci have Gram-positive spherical cells ranging from abo ...

'', and can group in pairs, chains, tetrads, cubical arrangements of eight, or irregular clusters. They have rigid cell walls and are either aerobic or facultative anaerobic. ''Kocuria'' can usually survive in

mesophilic A mesophile is an organism that grows best in moderate temperature, neither too hot nor too cold, with an optimum growth range from . The optimum growth temperature for these organisms is 37°C. The term is mainly applied to microorganisms. Organi ...

temperatures.

Clinical significance

''Kocuria'' has been found to live on human skin and oral cavity. It is generally considered non-pathogenic but can be found in some infections. Specific infection associated with ''Kocuria'' are urinary tract infections, cholecystitis, catheter-associated bacteremia, dacryocystitis, canaliculitis, keratitis, native valve endocarditis, peritonitis, descending necrotizing mediastinitis, brain abscess and meningitis. '' Kocuria rosea'' is known to cause infection in immunocompromised patients, causing oropharyngeal and deep cervical infections. However, as having low pathogenicity and being very susceptible to antibiotics, with immediate surgical drainage, debridement, and administration of broad range antibiotics showed great results.

Microbiology

''Kocuria'' can be grown on sheep blood agar and other simple media plates. They grow best in neutral pH environments. Depending on the species, they appear in a range of color such as: orange, pink, red, yellow or cream. They are shown to lack hemolytic ability on a blood agar plate. However, they have shown to react differently to normal laboratory identification techniques. These test include: catalase, urease, oxidase, amylase, gelatins, phosphatase, beta-galactosidase activities, and carbon source and citrate utilization. ''Kocuria'' is susceptible towards bacitracin and lysozyme and resistance to nitrofurantoin, furazolidone and lysostaphin.

Environment

In a study done by Louisiana State University, 75 strains of bacteria from the Atacama Desert were tested for its ability to grow in Mars-like climates. The environment tested contained high concentrations of perchlorate salts, a similar condition found on Mars surface. In this environment, ''Kocuria'' was found to grow in one of the highest concentrations compared to the other strains.

Clinical significance

Microbiology

Environment

References

Further reading