Gordonia (bacterium)

''Gordonia'' is a genus of gram-positive to gram-variable, aerobic, catalase-positive bacterium in the Actinomycetota, closely related to the ''Rhodococcus'', ''Mycobacterium'', ''Skermania'', and ''Nocardia'' genera. ''Gordonia'' bacteria are non-motile, and non-sporulating. ''Gordonia'' is from the same lineage that includes ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis''.
The genus was discovered by Tsukamura in 1971 and named after American bacteriologist Ruth Gordon. Many species are often found in the soil, while other species have been isolated from aquatic environments. Some species have been associated with problems like sludge bulking and foaming in wastewater treatment plants. ''Gordonia'' species are rarely known to cause infections in humans.

Some pathogenic instances of ''Gordonia'' have been reported to cause skin and soft tissue infections, including bacteremia and cutaneous infections. Though infections are generally treated with antibiotics, surgical procedures are sometimes used to contain infections. Some investigations have found that 28 °C is the ideal temperature for the growth of ''Gordonia'' bacteria. ''Gordonia'' species often have high G-C base pair contents in DNA, ranging from 63% to 69%.

Some species of ''Gordonia'', such as ''Gordonia rubripertincta'', produce colonies that have a bright orange or orange-red color.

Some strains of ''Gordonia'' have recently garnered interest in the biotechnology industry due to their ability to degrade environmental pollutants.

Cases of pathogenicity

''Gordonia bronchialis'' has occasionally shown pathogenicity, infecting sternal wounds from surgery. However, since ''G. bronchialis'' infections can present with minimal and mild symptoms, few reports of ''G. bronchialis'' infections have been documented.

''Gordonia'' can infect immunocompetent and immunocompromised individuals.

Environmental applications

''Gordonia'' species are able to degrade various environmental pollutants toxins and other natural compounds that cannot regularly be biodegraded. Two common materials, natural and synthetic isoprene rubber ( cis-1,4-polyisoprene), can be biodegraded and used as a carbon and energy source by ''Gordonia.'' ''Gordonia'' are commonly detected in activated sludge wastewater treatment plants, where they along with other mycolic acid containing actinomycetes are well known contributors to sludge foaming issues that impede biomass settling and process performance.

''Gordonia'' as a

bacteriophage host

''Gordonia'' species are also being studied as hosts to bacteriophages, or bacteria-parasitizing viruses. Because of their relatedness to ''Mycobacterium'', ''Gordonia'' were used as hosts in the SEA-PHAGES project, greatly contributing to the number of isolated ''Gordonia'' phages. According to the Actinobacteriophage Database PhagesDb.org, more than 2,806 ''Gordonia''-infecting types of bacteriophages have been identified as of April 26, 2023. Research with bacteriophages parasitizing ''Gordonia'' and other genera can be used to develop bacteriophage therapies for drug-resistant human, animal, and plant bacterial infections; contamination prevention in food processing facilities; targeted gene delivery; and more.

Species

''Gordonia'' comprises the following species:

* '' G. aichiensis'' corrig. (Tsukamura 1983) Klatte et al. 1994
* '' G. alkaliphila'' Cha and Cha 2013
* '' G. alkanivorans'' Kummer et al. 1999
* '' G. amarae'' corrig. (Lechevalier and Lechevalier 1974) Klatte et al. 1994
* '' G. amicalis'' Kim et al. 2000
* '' G. araii'' Kageyama et al. 2006
* '' G. asplenii'' Suriyachadkun et al. 2021
* "'' G. australis''" Schneider et al. 2008
* '' G. bronchialis'' corrig. (Tsukamura 1971) Stackebrandt et al. 1989
* '' G. caeni'' Srinivasan et al. 2012
* '' G. cholesterolivorans'' Drzyzga et al. 2009
* '' G. crocea'' Tamura et al. 2020
* '' G. defluvii'' Soddell et al. 2006
* '' G. desulfuricans'' Kim et al. 1999
* '' G. didemni'' de Menezes et al. 2016
* '' G. effusa'' Kageyama et al. 2006
* '' G. hankookensis'' Park et al. 2009
* '' G. hirsuta'' corrig. Klatte et al. 1996
* '' G. hongkongensis'' Tsang et al. 2016
* '' G. humi'' Kämpfer et al. 2011
* '' G. hydrophobica'' corrig. Bendinger et al. 1995
* '' G. insulae'' Kim et al. 2020
* '' G. iterans'' Kang et al. 2014
* "'' G. jacobaea''" De Miguel et al. 2000
* '' G. jinghuaiqii'' Zhang et al. 2021
* '' G. jinhuaensis'' Li et al. 2014

* '' G. lacunae'' Le Roes et al. 2009
* '' G. malaquae'' Yassin et al. 2007
* '' G. mangrovi'' Xie et al. 2020
* '' G. namibiensis'' Brandão et al. 2002
* '' G. neofelifaecis'' Liu et al. 2011

* '' G. oryzae'' Muangham et al. 2019
* '' G. otitidis'' Iida et al. 2005
* '' G. paraffinivorans'' Xue et al. 2003
* '' G. phosphorivorans'' Kämpfer et al. 2013
* '' G. phthalatica'' Jin et al. 2017
* '' G. polyisoprenivorans'' Linos et al. 1999
* "'' G. pseudoamarae''" Batinovic et al. 2021
* '' G. rhizosphera'' Takeuchi and Hatano 1998
* '' G. rubripertincta'' corrig. (Hefferan 1904) Stackebrandt et al. 1989

* '' G. sediminis'' Sangkanu et al. 2019
* '' G. shandongensis'' Luo et al. 2007
* '' G. sihwensis'' Kim et al. 2003
* '' G. sinesedis'' Maldonado et al. 2003
* '' G. soli'' Shen et al. 2006
* '' G. spumicola'' Tamura et al. 2020
* '' G. sputi'' corrig. (Tsukamura and Yano 1985) Stackebrandt et al. 1989
* '' G. terrae'' corrig. (Tsukamura 1971) Stackebrandt et al. 1989
* "'' G. terrea''" Stobdan et al. 2008
* '' G. westfalica'' Linos et al. 2002
* '' G. zhaorongruii'' Zhang et al. 2021

See also

*Unicellular organism
*Gram-positive bacteria
* ''Gordonia'' sp. nov. Q8

References

External links

''Gordonia'' at Bac''Dive'' - the Bacterial Diversity Metadatabase

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1538121

Mycobacteriales
Bacteria genera
Soil biology
Pathogenic bacteria