Open AccessIsolation and characterization of an environmental acid‐fast organism producing diphenoloxidase activity in vivo
Author(s) -
Harris E.B.,
Sanchez R.M.,
Job C.K.,
Prabhakaran K.,
Hastings R.C.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
fems microbiology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1574-6968
pISSN - 0378-1097
DOI - 10.1111/j.1574-6968.1990.tb03783.x
Subject(s) - armadillo , spleen , in vivo , microbiology and biotechnology , isolation (microbiology) , biology , inoculation , organism , in vitro , bacteria , strain (injury) , mycobacterium , biochemistry , ecology , anatomy , immunology , genetics , paleontology
Water and soil samples were collected from natural habitats of the nine‐banded armadillo and tested for the presence of acid‐fast organisms by injection into the foot pads of experimental mice. Sixteen months post inoculation an acid‐fast organism was isolated from the foot pad and spleen of one of the mice. The isolate exhibited diphenoloxidase activity as determined by its ability to convert d ‐3,4‐dihydroxyphenylalanine to the corresponding quinone. The same organisms grown in vitro lacked detectable diphenoloxidase activity. However, diphenoloxidase activity was observed in acid‐fast organisms harvested from spleen tissue of mice experimentally inoculated with a pure culture of the isolate. The environmental isolate was tentatively classed with the Mycobacterium avium‐intracellulare complex.