Mycobacterium montefiorense

Mycobacterium montefiorense

Mycobacterium montefiorense has been demonstrated to be an etiologic agent of a granulomatous skin disease of moray eels. Sequence analysis, of the 16S rRNA gene reveals Mycobacterium montefiorense is most closely related to Mycobacterium triplex, an opportunistic pathogen of humans

Etymology of Montefiore, referring to the Montefiore Medical Center.
 * M. montefiorense was named after the Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, N.Y., the medical institution where it was isolated.

Description
Microscopy
 * beaded acid-fast rods from growth on Middlebrook 7H10 media at 25°C

Colony characteristics
 * Growth from Middlebrook 7H10 media at 25°C has small and transparent, slow growing, nonchromogenic colonies.

Physiology
 * does not grow at temperatures of >30°C.

Differential characteristics
 * Unique 16S rRNA gene with its closest match being M. triplex
 * Sequences of the hsp65 amplicon demonstrated that M. montefiorense differs from M. triplex by 10 of 441 nucleotides and M. genavense by 14 of 441 nucleotides of the hsp65 gene sequence.

Pathogenesis

 * M. montefiorense has been demonstrated to cause granulomatous skin disease of moray eels.

Type Strain

 * Strain ATCC BAA-256 = CCUG 51898 = DSM 44602.