''Mycobacterium heckeshornense'' is a species of the phylum

Actinomycetota The ''Actinomycetota'' (or ''Actinobacteria'') are a phylum of all gram-positive bacteria. They can be terrestrial or aquatic. They are of great economic importance to humans because agriculture and forests depend on their contributions to s ...

(

Gram-positive 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 ...

bacteria Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one Cell (biology), biological cell. They constitute a large domain (biology), domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometr ...

with high guanine and cytosine content, one of the dominant phyla of all bacteria), belonging to the genus '' Mycobacterium''.

Description

, nonmotile and

acid-fast Acid-fastness is a physical property of certain bacterial and eukaryotic cells, as well as some sub-cellular structures, specifically their resistance to decolorization by acids during laboratory staining procedures. Once stained as part of a sam ...

rods. Cells are typically rod-shaped, with some coccoid forms. Colony characteristics Smooth, yellow scotochromogenic

colonies In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state'' ...

appear after 4 weeks of culture.

Physiology Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...

*Slowly growing organism, colonies appear after 4 weeks of growth. *Able to grow at 37

°C The degree Celsius is the unit of temperature on the Celsius scale (originally known as the centigrade scale outside Sweden), one of two temperature scales used in the International System of Units (SI), the other being the Kelvin scale. The ...

and 45 °C. Differential characteristics *The

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...

position of this

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

is within the cluster defined by ''M. xenopi'' and ''M. botniense''. *Key differentiating features are negative tests for arylsulfatase and pyrazinamidase and susceptibility to antimycobacterial drugs.

Pathogenesis

*Seems to be pathogenic in

immunocompetent In immunology, immunocompetence is the ability of the body to produce a normal immune response following exposure to an antigen. Immunocompetence is the opposite of immunodeficiency (also known as ''immuno-incompetence'' or being ''immuno-compro ...

humans. * Biosafety level unknown

Type strain

*The type strain was isolated from human lung by

bronchoscopy Bronchoscopy is an endoscopic technique of visualizing the inside of the airways for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. An instrument (bronchoscope) is inserted into the airways, usually through the nose or mouth, or occasionally through a trac ...

. Strain S369 = CCUG 51897 = DSM 44428

References

*Roth et al. 2000. Mycobacterium heckeshornense sp. nov., a new pathogenic slowly growing Mycobacterium sp. causing cavitary lung disease in an immunocompetent patient. J. Clin. Microbiol.,38, 4102–4107.

External links

Type strain of ''Mycobacterium heckeshornense'' at Bac''Dive'' - the Bacterial Diversity Metadatabase
Acid-fast bacilli heckeshornense Bacteria described in 2001 {{Mycobacterium-stub