Alcaligenes

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Alcaligenes
Alcaligenes faecalis PHIL-stained.jpg
Alcaligenes faecalis, flagella stain
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Domain: Bacteria
Kingdom: Pseudomonadati
Phylum: Pseudomonadota
Class: Betaproteobacteria
Order: Burkholderiales
Family: Alcaligenaceae
Genus: Alcaligenes
Castellani & Chalmers 1919
Species

Alcaligenes is a genus of Gram-negative, aerobic, rod-shaped bacteria in the order of Burkholderiales, family Alcaligenaceae [1] .

Contents

History

The type species, A. faecalis, was first isolated from stale beer by Johannes Petruschky in 1896. [2] However, formal description was only finished in 1919 by Castellani and Chalmers. [3] The name Alcaligenes has its origin in Arabic and Greek and means "alkali-producing". [4] [ clarification needed ]

Several species were previously placed in Alcaligenes, but have since been moved to more appropriate genera. A. aestus , A. aquamarinus, A. cupidus , A. pacificus and A. venustus were first reclassified to the genus Deleya and later merged into Halomonas in the class of Gammaproteobacteria. Other species were reassigned within the order of Burkholderiales. A. denitrificans , A. piechaudii , A. ruhlandii and A. xylosoxidans are currently placed in Achromobacter , [5] A. latus in Azohydromonas , [6] A. eutrophus in Wautersia , [7] and A. paradoxus in Variovorax . [8]

Morphology and biochemistry

Species of Alcaligenes are rods, coccal rods, or cocci, sized at about 0.5-1.0 x 0.5-2.6 μm. The slender rods are slightly curved, capsule forming, not spore-forming. [9] They are usually motile with amphitrichous flagella and rarely nonmotile. They tend to be colorless.

Alcaligenes species are obligately aerobic, but some can undergo anaerobic respiration if nitrate is present. They are non-fermenting. [10]

Alcaligenes species have been used for the industrial production of nonstandard amino acids. [11]

Biology and pathogenesis

Species of Alcaligenes typically occur in soil and water or decaying materials and dairy products. A. faecalis is commonly found in the intestinal tracts of vertebrates, and is found as a harmless saprophyte in 5% – 19% of the human population. [12]

Infections from Alcaligenes species are uncommon and largely opportunistic. [13] [14] A. faecalis is a known causing agent of nosocomial bacterial sepsis in immunocompromised patients by contaminated hemodialysis or intravenous fluid. [14] Cases of meningitis, peritonitis, [15] enteric fever, appendicitis, cystitis, chronic suppurative otitis media, abscesses, arthritis, pneumonitis and endocarditis [16] associated with Alcaligenes have been reported,[ clarification needed ] including a zoonotic infection from ferrets. [16] An increased recovery rate of Alcaligenes species from patients with cystic fibrosis was reported in 2001, [17] though the most commonly identified strain A. cylosoxidans has since been transferred to Achromobacter .

A. faecalis infections can pose a challenge due to considerable resistance to commonly used antibiotics. [18] The resistance is driven by the production of β-lactamases (such as OXA-10 and PER-1), efflux pumps like the AcrAB-TolC system, and mutations in the gyrA and parC genes, which decrease fluoroquinolone effectiveness. The bacterium also forms biofilms on medical devices, providing protection against both antibiotics and the host immune system. In recent years, extensively drug-resistant (XDR) strains have emerged, showing very limited susceptibility to most available antibiotics. [1]

References

  1. 1 2 Geremia, Nicholas; Marino, Andrea; De Vito, Andrea; Giovagnorio, Federico; Stracquadanio, Stefano; Colpani, Agnese; Di Bella, Stefano; Madeddu, Giordano; Parisi, Saverio Giuseppe; Stefani, Stefania; Nunnari, Giuseppe (2025-03-16). "Rare or Unusual Non-Fermenting Gram-Negative Bacteria: Therapeutic Approach and Antibiotic Treatment Options". Antibiotics. 14 (3): 306. doi: 10.3390/antibiotics14030306 . ISSN   2079-6382. PMC   11939765 . PMID   40149115.
  2. ↑ Petruschky, J. "Bacillus faecalis alcaligenes (n. sp.)." Zentbl Bakteriol Parasitenk Infektionskr Hyg Abt I 19 (1896): 187-191.
  3. ↑ Rehfuss, Marc; Urban, James (2005). "Alcaligenes faecalis subsp. Phenolicus subsp. Nov. A phenol-degrading, denitrifying bacterium isolated from a graywater bioprocessor". Systematic and Applied Microbiology. 28 (5): 421–429. Bibcode:2005SyApM..28..421R. doi:10.1016/j.syapm.2005.03.003. PMID   16094869.
  4. ↑ "Genus: Alcaligenes". lpsn.dsmz.de. Retrieved 2020-10-04.
  5. ↑ Steinberg, James P.; Burd, Eileen M. (2015). "238 - Other Gram-Negative and Gram-Variable Bacilli". In Bennett, John E.; Dolin, Raphael; Blaser, Martin J. (eds.). Mandell, Douglas, and Bennett's Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases. Vol. 2. pp. 2667–2683. doi:10.1016/B978-1-4557-4801-3.00238-1. ISBN   978-1-4557-4801-3.
  6. ↑ Xie, Cheng-Hui; Yokota, Akira (2005). "Reclassification of Alcaligenes latus strains IAM 12599T and IAM 12664 and Pseudomonas saccharophila as Azohydromonas lata gen. nov., comb. nov., Azohydromonas australica sp. nov. and Pelomonas saccharophila gen. nov., comb. nov., respectively". International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. 55 (6): 2419–2425. doi: 10.1099/ijs.0.63733-0 . ISSN   1466-5034. PMID   16280506.
  7. ↑ Vandamme, P.; Coenye, Tom (2004-11-01). "Taxonomy of the genus Cupriavidus: a tale of lost and found". International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. 54 (6): 2285–2289. doi: 10.1099/ijs.0.63247-0 . ISSN   1466-5026.
  8. ↑ Leadbetter, Jared R.; Greenberg, E. P. (2000-12-15). "Metabolism of Acyl-Homoserine Lactone Quorum-Sensing Signals by Variovorax paradoxus". Journal of Bacteriology. 182 (24): 6921–6926. doi:10.1128/JB.182.24.6921-6926.2000. ISSN   0021-9193. PMC   94816 . PMID   11092851.
  9. ↑ Austin, Brian (2014-01-01). "The Family Alcaligenaceae". In Rosenberg, Eugene; DeLong, Edward F.; Lory, Stephen; Stackebrandt, Erko; Thompson, Fabiano (eds.). The Prokaryotes. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. pp. 729–757. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-30197-1_397. ISBN   9783642301964.
  10. ↑ Kaliaperumal, S.; Srinivasan, R.; Gupta, A.; Parija, S. C. (2006). "Postoperative endophthalmitis due to an unusual pathogen: Alcaligenes faecalis". Eye. 20 (8): 968–969. doi: 10.1038/sj.eye.6702080 . ISSN   1476-5454. PMID   16138111.
  11. ↑ Batt, Carl A. (2014). "Alcaligenes". In Batt, Carl A.; Tortorello, Mary Lou (eds.). Encyclopedia of Food Microbiology (2 ed.). pp. 38–41. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-384730-0.00006-9. ISBN   978-0-12-384733-1.
  12. ↑ Kahveci, Arzu; Asicioglu, Ebru; Tigen, Elif; Ari, Elif; Arikan, Hakki; Odabasi, Zekaver; Ozener, Cetin (2011-04-10). "Unusual causes of peritonitis in a peritoneal dialysis patient: Alcaligenes faecalis and Pantoea agglomerans". Annals of Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobials. 10 (1): 12. doi: 10.1186/1476-0711-10-12 . ISSN   1476-0711. PMC   3079607 . PMID   21477370.
  13. ↑ "Alcaligenes - Medical Definition from MediLexicon". Archived from the original on 2016-10-09. Retrieved 2014-05-28.
  14. 1 2 "Alcaligenes".
  15. ↑ Kavuncuoglu, F.; Unal, A.; Oguzhan, N.; Tokgoz, B.; Oymak, O.; Utas, C. (2010). "First Reported Case of Alcaligenes Faecalis Peritonitis". Peritoneal Dialysis International. 30 (1): 118–19. doi:10.3747/pdi.2009.00058. PMID   20056996. S2CID   11446084. Archived from the original on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2014-05-28.
  16. 1 2 Malek-Marín, T.; Arenas, M.D.; Perdiguero, M.; Salavert-Lleti, M.; Moledous, A.; Cotilla, E.; Gil, M.T. (2009-11-01). "A case of endocarditis of difficult diagnosis in dialysis: could "pest" friends be involved?". Clinical Nephrology. 72 (11): 405–409. doi:10.5414/CNP72405. ISSN   0301-0430. PMID   19863886.
  17. ↑ Saiman, L; Chen, Y; Tabibi, S; San Gabriel, P; Zhou, J; Liu, Z; Lai, L; Whittier, S (2001). "Identification and antimicrobial susceptibility of Alcaligenes xylosoxidans isolated from patients with cystic fibrosis". J. Clin. Microbiol. 39 (11): 3942–5. doi:10.1128/JCM.39.11.3942-3945.2001. PMC   88468 . PMID   11682511.
  18. ↑ Huang, Chienhsiu (2020-11-11). "Extensively drug-resistant Alcaligenes faecalis infection". BMC Infectious Diseases. 20 (1): 833. doi: 10.1186/s12879-020-05557-8 . ISSN   1471-2334. PMC   7659064 . PMID   33176714.
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