| Species/Subspecies: | Rhodococcus hoagii | ||||||||||
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| Etymology: | Genus name: red coccus (grain or berry) Species epithet: named after the bacteriologist Louis Hoag, who first isolated this bacterium. | ||||||||||
| Significance: | [Very important] | ||||||||||
| Alternative Species Name(s): | Prescottella equi, Corynebacterium equi, Rhodococcus equi, | ||||||||||
| Taxonomy: | Class Actinomycetia Order Mycobacteriales Family Nocardiaceae Genus Rhodococcus |
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| Type Strain: | ATCC 25729 och 6939 = CCUG 892 = NCTC 1621 | ||||||||||
| Macromorphology (smell):
| Large glistening colonies, which often flow together on the agar plate due to strong mucus production (capsule). On purple lactose agar and Sabouraud agar, the colonies turn salmon-pink due to production of a γ-carotene like pigment. Typical odor (underground cellars, old stumps or rotten pear). | ||||||||||
| Micromorphology: | Can undergo different morphological stages during culture from rods (exponential phase) to cocci (stationary phase). | ||||||||||
| Gram +/Gram -: | G+ | ||||||||||
| Metabolism: | Strictly aerobic | ||||||||||
| Catalase/Oxidase: | +/- | ||||||||||
| Other Enzymes: | Esculinase -, hippuricase (-), tryptophanase -, urease (+) | ||||||||||
| Biochemical Tests: | Hydrogensulphide (H2S) v. | ||||||||||
| Fermentation of carbohydrates: | R. hoagii does not ferment carbohydrates. | ||||||||||
| Microbiological tests:
| R. hoagii does not produce hemolysis on blood agar, but it gives synergistic hemolysis with Staphylococcus aureus subsp. aureus or Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis. Synergistic hemolysis can be demonstrated by the so-called CAMP-test. | ||||||||||
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| Special Media: | |||||||||||
| Reservoir: | Soil | ||||||||||
| Disease: |
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| Virulence Factors: | VapA (Virulence Associated Protein A) is a protein required to neutralize or destroy the phagosomes and lysosomes of the host cell. R. hoagii is facultatively intracellular and VapA prevents the bacterium from being taken up and broken down by phagosomes/lysosomes. | ||||||||||
| Genome Sequence: |
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| 16S rRNA Seq.: |
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| Taxonomy/phylogeny:
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About 50 species have been described within genus Rhodococcus, which is closely related to the following genera: Crossiella och Nocardia. | ||||||||||
| Reference(s): | No. 14, 122, 149 | ||||||||||
| Updated: | 2023-03-02 |