''Corynebacterium uropygiale'' is a bacterium described in 2016 following thorough investigations using a polyphasic approach including
MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry, phylogeny of
16S rRNA 16S rRNA may refer to:
* 16S ribosomal RNA
16 S ribosomal RNA (or 16 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 g ...
and ''
rpoB'' genes and
DNA fingerprinting. To date, it has been regarded as
endemic to
preen gland
The uropygial gland, informally known as the preen gland or the oil gland, is a bilobed sebaceous gland possessed by the majority of birds used to distribute the gland's oil through the plumage by means of preening. It is located dorsally at th ...
secretions of healthy
turkeys (''Meleagris gallopavo'').
[Markus Santhosh Braun, Stefan Zimmermann, Maria Danner, Harun-or Rashid, Michael Wink, ''Corynebacterium uropygiale'' sp. nov., isolated from the preen gland of Turkeys (''Meleagris gallopavo''), Systematic and Applied Microbiology, Volume 39, Issue 2, March 2016, Pages 88-92, ISSN 0723-2020, https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.syapm.2015.12.001.]
It is member of the genus ''
Corynebacterium
''Corynebacterium'' () is a genus of Gram-positive bacteria and most are aerobe, aerobic. They are bacillus (shape), bacilli (rod-shaped), and in some phases of life they are, more specifically, club (weapon), club-shaped, which inspired the gen ...
'' and belongs to the phylum
Actinomycetota. Although, a large number of
bacteria including corynebacteria have been reported as part of the normal
microbiome of
birds
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...
, ''C. uropygiale'' is the only member of the genus that has been recovered in preen gland secretions of birds. It is one of three bacterial species to have been found to colonize preen gland secretions of birds.
Culture conditions
''C. uropygiale'' grows on complex media supplemented with monounsaturated fatty acids (e. g.
lysogeny broth (LB) agar supplemented with 0.3%
Tween-80). On such media, luxurious growth is obtained after 48 h of incubation at 37°C. ''C. uropygiale'' can also be grown on Columbia agar containing 5% sheep blood, but faint growth is obtained. ''C. uropygiale'' does not show significant growth on media, such as LB, tryptic-soy agar, or
Mueller–Hinton agar. The presence or absence of
CO2 does not influence growth characteristics.
Characteristics
''C. uropygiale'' is a
fastidious, club-shaped,
Gram-positive, rod that assembles in palisades and V-shaped patterns. They are not
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 ...
and non
spore
In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many plants, algae, f ...
-forming facultative
anaerobes. Their
cell wall
A cell wall is a structural layer surrounding some types of cells, just outside the cell membrane. It can be tough, flexible, and sometimes rigid. It provides the cell with both structural support and protection, and also acts as a filtering mech ...
s contain
mycolic acids.
G+C content accounts for 60.7 mol% in the
type strain.
The closest relative is ''C. spheniscorum'',
which has been recovered from the
Magellanic penguin (''Spheniscus magellanicus'').
[J. Goyache, A. I. Vela, M. D. Collins, C. Ballesteros, V. Briones, J. Moreno, P. Yorio, L. Dominguez, R. Hutson, J. F. Fernandez-Garayzabal Corynebacterium spheniscorum sp. nov., isolated from the cloacae of wild penguins Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol., 53 (2003), pp. 43–46.]
Lipophilism
''C. uropygiale'' is capable of proliferating in lipid-rich
environments
Environment most often refers to:
__NOTOC__
* Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally
* Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...
, such as the preen gland. It uses the
fatty acids of its surroundings rather than synthesizing them by itself. ''C. uropygiale'' has adapted its
metabolism to its
habitat, as it lost the ability to produce these fatty acids by itself. In terms of
evolution, this saves energy and potentially increases
fitness.
References
External links
Type strain of ''Corynebacterium uropygiale'' at Bac''Dive'' - the Bacterial Diversity Metadatabase
{{Taxonbar, from=Q28100506
Corynebacterium
Bacteria described in 2016