Comamonas

Introduction

The genus Comamonas contains species of Gram-negative, aerobic, nonpigmented, rod-shaped bacteria, which are motile by means of at least one polar tuft of flagella and have a nonfermentative chemoorganotrophic metabolism. They are quite ubiquitous in the environment and have been isolated from soil, mud and water. Comamonas strains have also been isolated from denitrifying activated sludge as well as from various clinical samples and from the hospital environment, but they are not seen as pathogenic to healthy humans. The genus currently comprises four species, Comamonas terrigena, Comamonas testosteroni, Comamonas denitrificans and Comamonas nitrativorans.

Phylogeny

Phylogenetically, the genus Comamonas belongs to the Comamonadaceae lineage in the β-subclass of the Proteobacteria together with other genera including Acidovorax, Brachymonas, Hydrogenophaga, Polaromonas, Rhodoferax, Variovorax, Xylophilus and various species inappropriately assigned to the