''Macrococcus'' is a genus of Gram-positive cocci belonging to the family

Staphylococcaceae The Staphylococcaceae are a family of Gram-positive bacteria that includes the genus ''Staphylococcus'', noted for encompassing several medically significant pathogens. The five genera ''Jeotgalicoccus'', '' Macrococcus'', ''Nosocomiicoccus'', ' ...

. The genus was created in 1998.Kloos, W. E., D. N. Ballard, C. G. George, J. A. Webster, R. J. Hubner, W. Ludwig, K. H. Schleifer, F. Fiedler, and K. Schubert. 1998. Delimiting the genus Staphylococcus through description of ''Macrococcus caseolyticus'' gen. nov., comb. nov. and ''Macrococcus equipercicus'' sp. nov., and ''Macrococcus bovicus'' sp. nov, and ''Macrococcus carouselicus'' sp. nov. Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 48:859-877

History

The first recognised species in this genus (''Macrococcus caseolyticus'') was initially named ''Micrococcus caseolyticus'' by Evans in 1916. It was then renamed ''Staphylococcus caseolyticus'' by Schleifer ''et al'' in 1982. It received its current designation in 1998 by Kloos ''et al''.

Description

Members of the genus ''Macrococcus'' are Gram-positive, nonmotile, non-spore-forming cocci that are coagulase negative and

catalase Catalase is a common enzyme found in nearly all living organisms exposed to oxygen (such as bacteria, plants, and animals) which catalyzes the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide to water and oxygen. It is a very important enzyme in protecting t ...

positive. They can be distinguished phenotypically from most staphylococci on the basis of their cellular morphology (they are 2.5 – 4.0 times larger in diameter compared to ''

Staphylococcus aureus ''Staphylococcus aureus'' is a Gram-positive spherically shaped bacterium, a member of the Bacillota, and is a usual member of the microbiota of the body, frequently found in the upper respiratory tract and on the skin. It is often positive ...

'') and their positive cytochrome c oxidase reaction. Species in this genus are resistant to

bacitracin Bacitracin is a polypeptide antibiotic. It is a mixture of related cyclic peptides produced by ''Bacillus licheniformis'' bacteria, that was first isolated from the variety "Tracy I" ( ATCC 10716) in 1945. These peptides disrupt Gram-positive bac ...

and lysozyme and sensitive to

furazolidone Furazolidone is a nitrofuran antibacterial agent and monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI). It is marketed by Roberts Laboratories under the brand name Furoxone and by GlaxoSmithKline as Dependal-M. Medical uses Furazolidone has been used in human ...

. The DNA base content is 38–45 mol% G+C. The cell walls lack

teichoic acid Teichoic acids (''cf.'' Greek τεῖχος, ''teīkhos'', "wall", to be specific a fortification wall, as opposed to τοῖχος, ''toīkhos'', a regular wall) are bacterial copolymers of glycerol phosphate or ribitol phosphate and carbohydr ...

. They are usually unencapsulated. The type species is ''Macrococcus equipercicus''.

Genome

The first genome of this genus was sequenced in 2009Baba T, Kuwahara-Arai K, Uchiyama I, Takeuchi F, Ito T, Hiramatsu K. (2009) Complete genome sequence of ''Macrococcus caseolyticus'' strain JCSCS5402, orrectedreflecting the ancestral genome of the human-pathogenic staphylococci. J. Bacteriol. 191(4):1180-1190

Evolution

This genus is the closest known relation of the genus ''Staphylococcus''. Within ''

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 ...

'', the closest relations of ''Macrococcus'' appear to be the ''

Staphylococcus sciuri ''Mammaliicoccus sciuri'', previously ''Staphylococcus sciuri'', is a Gram-positive, oxidase-positive, coagulase-negative member of the bacterial genus '' Mammaliicoccus'' consisting of clustered cocci. The type subspecies ''M. sciuri'' subsp. '' ...

'' group.

Clinical

This genus is not known to cause human disease. A methicillin resistance gene has been identified in this genus.Tsubakishita S, Baba K K-A T, and Hiramatsu K (2010) ''Staphylococcal'' cassette chromosome mec-Like element in ''Macrococcus caseolyticus''. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 54 (4) 1469-1475 The significance of this discovery is not yet clear.

Etymology

The name ''Macrococcus'' is a

masculine Masculinity (also called manhood or manliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles associated with men and boys. Masculinity can be theoretically understood as socially constructed, and there is also evidence that some behaviors con ...

New Latin noun composed of the Greek adjective ''makros (μάκρος)'' meaning "large" and the Neolatin masculine noun ''coccus'' intended to mean a coccus shaped bacterium, as it comes from the Greek masculine noun ''kokkos (κόκκος)'' meaning "berry", consequently the noun ''Macrococcus'', means "large coccus". The eymology of the epithet of the 8 species contained in the genus are: * For '' M. bovicus'' ( Kloos ''et al''. 1998), the epithet is the masculine form of ''bovicus, -a, -um'', a Neolatin adjective derived from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

noun ''bos, bovis'' meaning "cow", given that the type strain was isolated from a cow. * For '' M. brunensis'' ( Mannerová ''et al''. 2003), the Latin masculine adjective ''brunensis'' meaning from Bruna, the Roman name of the city of Brünn in the Czech Republic, where the type strain was isolated. * '' M. canis (Gobeli Brawand et al. 2017) * For '' M. carouselicus'' ( Kloos ''et al''. 1998), the Neolatin adjective ''carouselicus'' meaning "pertaining " to a carousel". * For '' M. caseolyticus'' ((Schleifer ''et al''. 1982) Kloos ''et al''. 1998), the epithet is a Neolatin adjective which is a combination of the Latin noun ''caseus'' meaning "cheese" and the Neolatin adjective ''lyticus'' (from the Greek adjective ''lutikos (λυτικός)'') meaning "able to dissolve", to mean "casein-dissolving". * For '' M. equipercicus'' ( Kloos ''et al''. 1998), the epithet is a Neolatin adjective, meaning "pertaining to Percy, the horse", composed of the Latin noun ''equus, -i'' meaning "horse" and the Neolatinised English proper name "Percy" to ''Percus, -i'', which is the name of the Irish thoroughbred horse from which the species was isolated (In Kloos ''et al''. 1998 the component ''equus'' is said to be in the genitive case, but more correctly ''equi" is the root ''equ-" plus a joining "-i-" as first word is a Latin word,"c.f."Help! Latin! How to avoid the most common mistakes while giving Latin names to newly discovered prokaryotes. Microbiología (Sociedad Española de Microbiología), 1996, 12, 473-475. ). * '' M. hajekii'' ( Mannerová ''et al''. 2003) New Latin

genitive case In grammar, the genitive case (abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can al ...

noun ''hajekii'', of Hájek, named after

Wenceslaus Hajek Wenceslaus Hájek of Libočany ( cz, Václav Hájek z Libočan; german: Wenzeslaus Hagek von Libotschan; la, Wenceslaus Hagecius, Wenceslaus Hagek a Liboczan; died 18 March 1553) was a Bohemian chronicler, author of famous '' Czech Chronicle'' (15 ...

, a Czech microbiologist. * '' M. lamae'' ( Mannerová; ''et al''. 2003) New Latin

feminine gender In linguistics, grammatical gender system is a specific form of noun class system, where nouns are assigned with gender categories that are often not related to their real-world qualities. In languages with grammatical gender, most or all nouns ...

noun ''lamae'', of Lama, the zoological genus name of the llama.

References

External links

* Summary of the genome dat

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3209541 Staphylococcaceae Bacteria genera