Kingdom Bacteria Order Actinomycetales Genus Mycobacterium Higher classification Mycobacterium | Phylum Actinobacteria Family Mycobacteriaceae Scientific name Mycobacterium phlei Rank Species | |
Similar Mycobacterium, Bacteria, Mycobacterium smegmatis, Mycobacterium fortuitum, Mycobacterium scrofulaceum | ||
Medical vocabulary what does mycobacterium phlei mean
Mycobacterium phlei is an acid-fast bacteria of the genus Mycobacterium. They are named this way because they contain mycolic acids, which is also the reason that simple staining or Gram staining does not give good results with this microbe. In fact, they cover their cell bodies with mycolic acid, which makes them one of the hardest genera of bacteria to kill.
Of the genus Mycobacterium, M. phlei, is characterized as one of the fast-growing mycobacteria. On egg media and sheep's blood agar, the colonies are flat with a distinctive pigmentation ranging from deep yellow to orange.
M. phlei has only occasionally been isolated in human infections, and patients infected with M. phlei generally respond well to anti-mycobacterial therapy.
M. phlei, has been known to have up to 73% GC content, also making its Tm very high