Mycobacterium gordonae

Mycobacterium gordonae is a species of Mycobacterium named for Ruth E. Gordon.^[1] It is a species of the phylum Actinomycetota (Gram-positive bacteria with high guanine and cytosine content, one of the dominant phyla of all bacteria), belonging to the genus Mycobacterium.

Mycobacterium gordonae
Scientific classification
Domain:	Bacteria
Kingdom:	Bacillati
Phylum:	Actinomycetota
Class:	Actinomycetia
Order:	Mycobacteriales
Family:	Mycobacteriaceae
Genus:	Mycobacterium
Species:	M. gordonae
Binomial name
Mycobacterium gordonae Bojalil et al. 1962, ATCC 14470

Description

Slant tubes of Löwenstein-Jensen medium. From left to right:
- Negative control
- M. tuberculosis: Dry-appearing colonies
- Mycobacterium avium complex: Wet-appearing colonies
- M. gordonae: Yellowish colonies

Gram-positive, nonmotile and moderate to long acid-fast rods.

• Commonly found in tap water and soil. Casual resident in human sputum and gastric lavage specimens.

Colony characteristics

• Smooth, with yellow or orange scotochromogenic colonies. Even though they are scotochromogenic pigment is intensified by growing in continuous light.

Physiology

• Growth on Löwenstein-Jensen medium and Middlebrook 7H10 agar within 7 or more days at 37 °C (optimal 25 °C).
• Does not grow in the presence of ethambutol (1 mg/L), isoniazid (10 mg/L) and sodium chloride (5%).
• Some strains can grow using carbon monoxide as a carbon and energy source.^[2]

Differential characteristics

• A commercial hybridisation assay (AccuProbe) to identify M. gordonae exists.^[3]
• Intraspecies variability in 16S rDNA sequences

Pathogenesis

• Rarely if ever implicated in disease processes even if patients are immunocompromised. Widely distributed in environment and usually a contaminant in laboratory specimens.^[4]
• Biosafety level 2

Type strain

Strain ATCC 14470 = CCUG 21801 = CCUG 21811 = CIP 104529 = DSM 44160 = JCM 6382 = NCTC 10267.