Mycobacterium interjectum is a species of the phylum Actinomycetota (Gram-positive bacteria with high guanine and cytosine content, one of the dominant phyla of all bacteria), belonging to the genus Mycobacterium.
Name Etymology: Phylogenetic position between () rapidly and slowly growing mycobacteria.
Description Mycobacterium interjectum is Gram-positive, nonmotile and acid-fast rods (0.6-1.0 μm x 0.7-2.0 μm). Filaments (up to 6.0 μm) possible.
Colony characteristics Dysgonic, smooth and scotochromogenic colonies (1–2 mm in diameter).
Physiology Slow growth on Löwenstein-Jensen medium at temperatures between 31°C and 37 °C within 3–4 weeks. Susceptible to rifampicin. Resistant to isoniazid and ethambutol. Differential characteristics Most closely related to M. simiae. Phylogenetic position between rapidly and slowly growing mycobacteria.
Pathogenesis Chronic lymphadenitis Biosafety level 2
Type strain First isolated from a lymph node of a child with chronic lymphadenitis in Germany. Strain 4185/92 = ATCC 51457 = CCUG 37514 = DSM 44064
References
Springer et al. 1993. Mycobacterium interjectum, a new species isolated from a patient with chronic lymphadenitis. J. Clin. Microbiol., 31, 3083–3089.
External links Type strain of Mycobacterium interjectum at BacDive - the Bacterial Diversity Metadatabase