 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
AlcaligenesRANK: GenusTAXONOMY: cellular organisms -> Bacteria -> Proteobacteria -> Betaproteobacteria -> Burkholderiales -> Alcaligenaceae -> Alcaligenes OVERVIEW: Alcaligenes is a genus of Gram-negative, aerobic, rod-shaped bacteria. The species are motile with one or more peritrichous flagella and rarely nonmotile. It is a genus of nonfermenting bacteria (in the family Alcaligenaceae). Additionally, some strains of Alcaligenes are capable of anaerobic respiration, but they must be in the presence of nitrate or nitrite; otherwise, their metabolism is respiratory and never fermentative; The genus does not use carbohydrates. Strains of Alcaligenes (such as A. faecalis) are found mostly in the intestinal tracts of vertebrates, decaying materials, dairy products, water, and soil; they can be isolated from human respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts and wounds in hospitalized patients with compromised immune systems. They are occasionally the cause of opportunistic infections, including nosocomial septicemia. In the GF mice the IgA production is reduced due to lower levels of plasma cells. Colonizing mice with fecal flora containing commensal species such as Alcaligenes can restore the IgA production. Alcaligenes tend to colonize the Peyer's patches where they can actively interact with the CD11+ dendritic cells which send signals to lymphocytes to induce IgA production. IgA production only increases at the sites of Alcaligenes colonization and no systemic spillover of IgA-producing plasma cell induction occurs. Alcaligenes species have been increasingly recovered over the past decade from patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). An experiment recently examined the frequency of correct identification of Alcaligenes species by microbiology labs affiliated with American CF patient care centers. Most (89%) strains of microbial agents in these tests were correctly identified by the referring laboratories as Alcaligenes xylosoxidans. Alcaligenes faecalis causes nosocomial septicemia, arising from contaminated hemodialysis or intravenous fluid, in immunocompromised patients. This genus contains microbial species that can reside in the human gastrointestinal tract. [PMC 4262072]
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||