Contribution in an anthology

Appeared in: Bergey's Manual of Systematics of Archaea and Bacteria

Editor list: Whitman, WB

Publication year: 2018

eISBN: 978-1-118-96060-8

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118960608.gbm00809.pub2

Abstract: 

O.chro.bac'trum. Gr. adj. ochros pale, colorless; Gr. neut. n. baktron a staff or stick; N.L. neut. n. Ochrobactrum a colorless rod.

Proteobacteria / Alphaproteobacteria / Rhizobiales / Brucellaceae / Ochrobactrum

Bacteria of the genus Ochrobactrum are Gram-stain negative and rod-shaped with a typical oval cell form and a cell size of 1.0 × 1.5–2.0 µm. Cells are motile by means of a peritrichous flagellum. Obligatory aerobic, having a strictly respiratory type of metabolism. Optimal growth occurs in a temperature range of 20–37°C. Colonies on nutrient agar (NA) are smooth, low convex, and translucent (opaque and mucoid, quickly becoming confluent in Ochrobactrum tritici). Chemoorganotrophic, using a variety of amino acids, organic acids, and carbohydrates as carbon sources. Oxidase positive. Catalase positive. Nitrate is usually reduced. Grow on MacConkey agar. Urease usually positive. Ornithine decarboxylase usually negative. Occur in human clinical specimens, and also in soil and water samples and in plant roots of various plant species. Two species, Ochrobactrum lupini and Ochrobactrum cytisi, are able to induce root nodules and fix nitrogen. Based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence phylogeny, the genus Ochrobactrum is a member of the family Brucellaceae within the Alphaproteobacteria. The genus can be clearly differentiated from the other genera of the family, the genera Brucella, Pseudochrobactrum, Paenochrobactrum, and Falsochrobactrum, based on the recA nucleotide sequence-based phylogeny, as well as several chemotaxonomic data.

DNA G + C content (mol%): 56–60.

Type species: Ochrobactrum anthropi Holmes, Popoff, Kiredjian and Kersters 1988, 412^VP.

Harvard Citation style: Kämpfer, P., Glaeser, S. and Holmes, B. (2018) Ochrobactrum, in Whitman, W. (ed.) Bergey's Manual of Systematics of Archaea and Bacteria. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118960608.gbm00809.pub2

APA Citation style: Kämpfer, P., Glaeser, S., & Holmes, B. (2018). Ochrobactrum. In Whitman, W. (Ed.), Bergey's Manual of Systematics of Archaea and Bacteria. Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118960608.gbm00809.pub2