Mycobacterium gordonae

Mycobacterium gordonae is a species of Mycobacterium named for Ruth E. Gordon. 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.

Description
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.

Differential characteristics
 * A commercial hybridisation assay (AccuProbe) to identify M. gordonae exists.
 * 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.
 * Biosafety level 2

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