Citrobacter
Genus of bacteria
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Citrobacter is a genus of Gram-negative, aerobic, rod-shaped[2] coliform bacteria of the Enterobacteriaceae family.
| Citrobacter | |
|---|---|
| |
| Citrobacter freundii | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Bacteria |
| Kingdom: | Pseudomonadati |
| Phylum: | Pseudomonadota |
| Class: | Gammaproteobacteria |
| Order: | Enterobacterales |
| Family: | Enterobacteriaceae |
| Genus: | Citrobacter Werkman and Gillen, 1932 |
| Species | |
Citrobacter spp. cause opportunistic infections (including urinary tract infections, gastroenteritis, and bacteremia).[2]
Microbiology
Microbial biochemistry
The species C. amalonaticus, C. koseri, and C. freundii can use citrate as a sole carbon source. Citrobacter species are differentiated by their ability to convert tryptophan to indole (C. koseri is the only citrobacter to be commonly indole-positive), ferment lactose (C. koseri is a lactose fermentor), and use malonate.[3]
Citrobacter shows the ability to accumulate uranium by building phosphate complexes.[4]
Environmental microbiology
These bacteria can be found almost everywhere in soil, water, wastewater, etc. They can also be found in the human intestine.[5][6]
Clinical significance
Citrobacter are considered opportunistic nosocomial pathogens, typically associated with urinary tract infections and infant meningitis and sepsis.[7]
Antimicrobial resistance
Citrobacter freundii strains have inducible ampC genes encoding resistance to ampicillin and first-generation cephalosporins.[8] In addition, isolates of Citrobacter may be resistant to many other antibiotics as a result of plasmid-encoded resistance genes.[7]