''Aerococcus'' is a genus of bacterium in the phylum

Bacillota The Bacillota (synonym Firmicutes) are a phylum of bacteria, most of which have Gram-positive cell wall structure. They have round cells, called cocci (singular coccus), or rod-like forms (bacillus). A few Bacillota, such as '' Megasphaera'', ...

(

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

). The genus was first identified in 1953 from samples of air and dust as a

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 ...

-negative,

gram The gram (originally gramme; SI unit symbol g) is a Physical unit, unit of mass in the International System of Units (SI) equal to one thousandth of a kilogram. Originally defined in 1795 as "the absolute Mass versus weight, weight of a volume ...

-positive

coccus Bacterial cellular morphologies are the shapes that are characteristic of various types of bacteria and often key to their identification. Their direct examination under a light microscope enables the classification of these bacteria (and archaea ...

that grew in small clusters. They were subsequently found in hospital environments and meat-curing brines. It has been difficult to identify as it resembles alpha-hemolytic ''Streptococcus'' on blood agar plates and is difficult to identify by biochemical means. Sequencing of

16S rRNA 16S ribosomal RNA (or 16Svedberg, S rRNA) is the RNA component of the 30S subunit of a prokaryotic ribosome (SSU rRNA). It binds to the Shine-Dalgarno sequence and provides most of the SSU structure. The genes coding for it are referred to as ...

has become the gold standard for identification, but other techniques such as

MALDI-TOF In mass spectrometry, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) is an ionization technique that uses a laser energy-absorbing matrix to create ions from large molecules with minimal fragmentation. It has been applied to the analysis of ...

have also been useful for identifying both the genus and species.

Etymology

The name ''Aerococcus'' derives from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

''aer, aeros'' (ἀήρ, ἀέρος), air;

Neo-Latin Neo-LatinSidwell, Keith ''Classical Latin-Medieval Latin-Neo Latin'' in ; others, throughout. (also known as New Latin and Modern Latin) is the style of written Latin used in original literary, scholarly, and scientific works, first in Italy d ...

''coccus'' (from Greek''kokkos'' (κόκκος)), a berry; Neo-Latin ''Aerococcus'', air coccus. The name was given based on its round shape and that it was first discovered in air samples.

Species

The genus contains these species: * '' A. christensenii'' Collins ''et al.'', 1999, named after the Danish microbiologist Jens J. Christensen * '' A. sanguinicola'' Lawson ''et al.'', 2001 (from the Latin for blood-dweller) * '' A. suis'' Vela ''et al.'', 2007 (Latin for "of a hog") * '' A. urinae'' Aguirre & Collins, 1992 (Latin for "of urine") * '' A. urinaeequi'' (Garvie, 1988) Felis ''et al.'', 2005 (Latin for "of the urine of a horse", source of isolation of the type strain) * '' A. urinaehominis'' Lawson ''et al.'', 2001 (Latin for "of the urine of a human", source of isolation of the type strain) * '' A. viridans'' Williams ''et al.'', 1953 –

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

of the genus (Latin for "making green", producing a green color). Causative agent of

gaffkaemia Gaffkaemia (gaffkemia in American English) is a bacterial disease of lobsters, caused by the Gram-positive lactic acid bacterium ''Aerococcus viridans'' var. ''homari''. Discovery Gaffkaemia was first discovered in 1947 in American lobsters (''H ...

, a disease of

lobster Lobsters are Malacostraca, malacostracans Decapoda, decapod crustaceans of the family (biology), family Nephropidae or its Synonym (taxonomy), synonym Homaridae. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on th ...

References

Bacteria genera Lactobacillales Pathogenic bacteria {{Lactobacilli-stub

Etymology

Species

See also

References