title: Emendation of the description of the species Corynebacterium propinquum to include strains which produce urease.
abstract: Corynebacterium propinquum is a Gram-positive rod occasionally recovered from clinical infections which, according to 16S rRNA gene sequencing, is most closely related (>99% sequence similarity) to Corynebacterium pseudodiphtheriticum. The two species are very similar biochemically, commonly differentiated by a single test, the detection of urease, where strains of C. propinquum are described as being urease-non-producing and strains of C. pseudodiphtheriticum are described as urease-producing. In this study, historical and contemporary strains of C. propinquum and C. pseudodiphtheriticum from this laboratory were definitively characterized, which included use of rpoB sequencing. Urease-producing strains of C. propinquum as well as typical urease-non-producing isolates were identified after rpoB sequencing, with six of these being originally identified as C. pseudodiphtheriticum. Based on these observations, we propose emendation of the description of C. propinquum to include strains which produce urease. MALDI-TOF analysis may be a useful tool to differentiate these taxa. Existing commercial databases should be updated to include urease-positive strains of C. propinquum.
authors.affiliation: University of Manitoba, Department of Medical Microbiology, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.|Special Bacteriology Unit, ARNI, National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
authors.forename: Kathryn
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bernard
authors.affiliation: Special Bacteriology Unit, ARNI, National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
authors.forename: Ana Luisa
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Pacheco
authors.affiliation: University of Manitoba, Department of Medical Microbiology, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Cunningham
authors.affiliation: University of Victoria, Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
authors.forename: Navdeep
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gill
authors.affiliation: Special Bacteriology Unit, ARNI, National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
authors.forename: Tamara
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Burdz
authors.affiliation: Special Bacteriology Unit, ARNI, National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
authors.forename: Deborah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wiebe
mesh_terms: D003352:Corynebacterium / Q000145:classification* / Q000201:enzymology; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010641:Phenotype; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D013045:Species Specificity; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization; D014510:Urease / Q000096:biosynthesis*
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D014510:Urease