Kocuria rosea

Kocuria rosea is a gram-positive bacteria that is catalase-positive and oxidase-positive. It has a coccus shape that occurs in the tetrad arrangement and is a strict aerobe that grows best from 25 to 37 °C.^[2] K. rosea has also been found to cause urinary tract infections in people with weakened immune systems.^[3]

Kocuria rosea
Scientific classification
Domain:	Bacteria
Kingdom:	Bacillati
Phylum:	Actinomycetota
Class:	Actinomycetia
Order:	Micrococcales
Family:	Micrococcaceae
Genus:	Kocuria
Species:	K. rosea
Binomial name
Kocuria rosea (Flügge 1886) Stackebrandt et al. 1995[1]
Type strain
ATCC 186 CCM 679 CCUG 4312 CIP 71.15 DSM 20447 IEGM 394 IFO 3768 JCM 11614 LMG 14224 NBRC 3768 NCTC 7523 NRRL B-2977 VKM B-1823
Synonyms[1]
Pelczaria aurantia Poston 1994 Deinococcus erythromyxa (ex Chester 1901) Brooks and Murray 1981 Micrococcus roseus Flügge 1886 (Approved Lists 1980) Kocuria erythromyxa (Brooks and Murray 1981) Rainey et al. 1997

The normal habitat for this Kocuria species is skin, soil, and water.^[4] It derives its name from the carotenoid pigment that it secretes.^[5] Isolated colonies on a TSA plate are circular, 1.0–1.5 mm in size, slightly convex, smooth, and pink in color.^[6]

Metabolism

K. rosea has been found to be able to biodegrade malachite green, azo dyes, triphenylmethane, as well as some other industrial dyes.^[7] Due to its ability to biodegrade these dyes, it has become of interest as a potential means to biodegrade dyes that would otherwise take a long time to naturally break down. It also has been found to have the ability to perform keratin hydrolysis through the production of keratinases.^[8]