Mycobacterium cosmeticum sp. nov., a novel rapidly growing species isolated from a cosmetic infection and from a nail salon

Abstract

Four isolates of a rapidly growingMycobacteriumspecies had a mycolic acid pattern similar to that ofMycobacterium smegmatis, as determined by HPLC analyses. Three of the isolates were from footbath drains and a sink at a nail salon located in Atlanta, GA, USA; the fourth was obtained from a granulomatous subdermal lesion of a female patient in Venezuela who was undergoing mesotherapy. By random amplified polymorphic DNA electrophoresis and PFGE of large restriction fragments, the three isolates from the nail salon were shown to be the same strain but different from the strain from the patient in Venezuela. Polymorphisms in regions of therpoB,hsp65and 16S rRNA genes that were shown to be useful for species identification matched for the two strains but were different from those of otherMycobacteriumspecies. The 16S rRNA gene sequence placed the strains in a taxonomic group along withMycobacterium frederiksbergense,Mycobacterium hodleri,Mycobacterium diernhoferiandMycobacterium neoaurum. The strains produced a pale-yellow pigment when grown in the dark at the optimal temperature of 35 °C. Biochemical testing showed that the strains were positive for iron uptake, nitrate reduction and utilization ofd-mannitol,d-xylose, iso-myo-inositol,l-arabinose, citrate andd-trehalose. The strains were negative ford-sorbitol utilization and production of niacin and 3-day arylsulfatase, although arylsulfatase activity was observed after 14 days. The isolates grew on MacConkey agar without crystal violet but not on media containing 5 % (w/v) NaCl or at 45 °C. They were susceptible to ciprofloxacin, amikacin, tobramycin, cefoxitin, clarithromycin, doxycycline, sulfamethoxazole and imipenem. The nameMycobacterium cosmeticumsp. nov. is proposed for this novel species; two strains, LTA-388T(=ATCC BAA-878T=CIP 108170T) (the type strain) and 2003-11-06 (=ATCC BAA-879=CIP 108169) have been designated, respectively, for the strains of the patient in Venezuela and from the nail salon in Atlanta, GA, USA.