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Chromobacterium violaceum

For the bacteria previously classified asChromobacterium violaceum Ford 1927 or

Chromobacterium violaceum Leifson 1956 see

Janthinobacterium lividum.Chromobacterium

violaceum

Blood agar plate culture of C. violaceum. Image from

the CDC.

Scientific classification

Kingdom: Bacteria

Phylum: Proteobacteria

Class: Betaproteobacteria

Order: Neisseriales

Family: Neisseriaceae

Genus: Chromobacterium

Species: C. violaceum

Binomial name

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Chromobacterium violaceum

(Schrter 1872)

Chromobacterium violaceum is a Gram-negative,

facultative anaerobic, non-sporing coccobacillus. It is

part of the normal flora of water and soil of tropical

and sub-tropical regions of the world. It produces anatural antibiotic called violacein, which may be

useful for the treatment of colon and other

cancers.[1] It grows readily on nutrient agar,

producing distinctive smooth low convex colonies

with a dark violet metallic sheen (due to violacein

production). Its full genome was published in

2003.[2] It has the ability to break down

tarballs.[3]Contents [hide]

1 Biochemistry

2 Medical significance

3 Treatment

4 Genome

5 References

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Biochemistry[edit]

C. violaceum ferments glucose, trehalose, N-

acetylglucosamine and gluconate but not L-

arabinose, D-galactose, or D-maltose. In many

cases can show high level resistance to a range of

antibiotics.[4]Medical significance[edit]

C. violaceum rarely infects humans, but when it does

it causes skin lesions, sepsis, and liver abscesses

that may be fatal.[5] Care must be taken becauseBurkholderia pseudomallei is commonly

misidentified as C. violaceum by many common

identification methods.[6][7] The two are readily

distinguished because B. pseudomallei produces

large wrinkled colonies, whereas C. violaceum

produces a distinctive violet pigment.

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C. violaceum produces a number of natural

antibiotics:

Aztreonam is a monobactam antibiotic that is activeagainst gram-negative aerobic bacteria including

Pseudomonas aeruginosa. It is marketed as

Azactam.

Violacein is active against amoebae and

trypanosomes;

Aerocyanidine is active against Gram-positive

organisms;

Aerocavin is active against Gram-positive and Gram-

negative organisms.

It has been described as a cause of infection in

gibbons.[8]

Treatment[edit]

Infection caused by C. violaceum is rare, therefore

there are no clinical trials evaluating different

treatments. Antibiotics that have been used to

successfully treat C. violaceum include pefloxacin,[9]

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ciprofloxacin, amikacin,[10] and co-trimoxazole.[11]

Other antibiotics that appear to be effective in vitro

include chloramphenicol and tetracycline.[12] For

theoretical reasons, infection would not be expected

to respond to penicillins, cephalosporins, or

aztreonam, although carbapenems like meropenem

or imipenem may possibly work.[13]

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Necrotizing fasciitis

Streptococcus pyogenes

Staphylococcus aureus

Vibrio vulnificus

Clostridium perfringens

Bacteroides fragilis

Aeromonas hydrophila

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Necrotizing_fasciitis