The location where I grabbed my soil sample was in Round Rock, Texas, on the edge of a residential area and a parking lot. It was September 02, 2015 around noon and the temperature was 90ºF with humidity of 45% and air pressure of 30 inches. There was no rainfall on that day or the past seven. I grabbed the surface soil which was very rocky and then an hour later I was able to do soil dilutions. The precise GPS location of my soil sample location was 30º29'56.9" N and 97º36'05.1" W.
Description and Significance
When cultured on an LB agar, Arthrobacter oxydans is a milky white, opaque, round, convex and small, almost punctiform shape.
When it comes to Arthrobacter, it's a special cellular shape. Depending on what point you stain the bacteria, you can get either rods, or cocci. In the younger phase, when plated on to fresh media, Arthrobacter tends to be a rod shaped and upon aging tends to morph into it's cocci stage, in which was the stage we were able to observe it under a microscope. It was also gram-positive (but can appear gram-negative in younger stages) and our endospore stain showed that it was a non spore producing bacterium without a capsule.
Arthrobacter is also non-motile and completely susceptible to E. coli and S. aureus, with our plates being overgrown with each bacteria.
The genome of Arthrobacter sp. Rue61a consists of a single circular chromosome of 4,736,495 bp. The genome of strain Rue61a contains numerous genes associated with osmoprotection, and a high number of genes coding for transporters. It encodes a broad spectrum of enzymes for the uptake and utilization of various sugars and organic nitrogen compounds. Rue61a reflects the saprophytic lifestyle and nutritional versatility of the organism and a strong adaptive potential to environmental stress.
Our 16S ribosomal sequence we obtained from PCR and sequencing is:
FORWARD: ATGCAGCGACGCCGCGTGAGGGATGACGGCCTTC
GGGTTGTAAACCTCTTTCAGTAGGGAAGAAGCGAAAGTGACGGTACCTGCA
GAAGAAGCGCCGGCTAACTACGTGCCAGCAGCCGCGGTAATACGTAGGGCG
CAAGCGTTATCCGGAATTATTGGGCGTAAAGAGCTCGTAGGCGGTTTGTCG
CGTCTGCCGTGAAAGTCCGGGGCTCAACTCCGGATCTGCGGTGGGTACGG
GCAGACTAGAGTGATGTAGGGGAGACTGGAATTCCTGGTGTAGCGGTGAA
ATGCGCAGATATCAGGAGGAACACCGATGGCGAAGGCAGGTCTCTGGGCA
TTAACTGACGCTGAGGAGCGAAAGCATGGGGAGCGAACAGGATTAGATAC
CCTGGTAGTCCATGCCGTAAACGTTGGGCACTAGGTGTGGGGGACATTCC
ACGTTTTCCGCGCCGTAGCTAACGCATTAAGTGCCCCGCCTGGGGAGTAC
GGCCGCAAGGCTAAAACTCAAAGGAATTGACGGGGGCCCGCACAAGCGG
CGGAGCATGCGGATTAATTCGATGCAACGCGAAGAACCTTACCAAGGCTT
GACATGAACCGGAAATACCTGGAGACAGGTGCCCCGCTTGCGGTCGGTT
TACAGGTGGTGCATGGTTGTCGTCAGCTCGTGCCGTGAG
The genus Arthrobacterincludes catalase-positive coryneform bacteria with an oxidative metabolism, the cell wall of which contains L-lysine as the diamino acid and cellular fatty acids of the branched type.
The pathological significance has yet to be assessed. Several studies have shown that this bacteria has been isolated from superficial body sites and blood after surgery but their role in disease is still unknown. They were not considered to be environmental contaminants since, except in blood cultures, numerous colonies were present at primary isolation. This bacteria is susceptible to many antibiotics.
Funke G., von Graevenitz A., Clarridge III J. E., Bernard K. A. (1997) Clinical microbiology of coryneform bacteria. Clin. Microbiol. Rev. 10:125–159.
Morphology and physiology of coryneform bacteria. (1974). Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek: Journal of Microbiology, 40(3), 361-376. Retrieved November 30, 2015
Niewerth et al.: Complete genome sequence and metabolic potential of the quinaldine-degrading bacterium Arthrobacter
sp. Rue61a. BMC Genomics 2012 13:534.
Author
Page authored by Nadia Didehbani and Kendra Dubec, students of Prof. Kristine Hollingsworth at Austin Community College.
