Micrococcus luteus

Common card · No. 295667

Micrococcus luteus is a Gram-positive to Gram-variable, nonmotile, tetrad-arranging, pigmented, saprotrophic coccus bacterium in the family Micrococcaceae. It is urease and catalase positive. An obligate aerobe, and non spore forming. M. luteus is found in soil, dust, water and air, and as part of the normal microbiota of the mammalian skin. The bacterium also colonizes the human mouth, mucosae, oropharynx and upper respiratory tract. Micrococcus luteus is generally harmless but can become an opportunistic pathogen in immunocompromised people or those with indwelling catheters. It resists antibiotic treatment by slowing of major metabolic processes and induction of unique genes. Its genome has a high G + C content. Micrococcus luteus is coagulase negative, bacitracin susceptible, and forms bright yellow colonies on nutrient agar (hence its scientific species name luteus which means "yellow" in Latin). Micrococcus luteus has been shown to survive in oligotrophic environments for extended...

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