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The Genus Citrobacter

  • SECTION 3.3 Gamma Subclass
  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
The Prokaryotes

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Introduction

Members of the genus Citrobacter are Gram-negative, nonsporeforming rods belonging to the family Enterobacteriaceae and, as the name suggests, usually utilize citrate as a sole carbon source. These facultative anaerobes typically are motile by means of peritrichous flagella. They ferment glucose and other carbohydrates with the production of acid and gas. They are oxidase negative, catalase and methyl red positive, Voges-Proskauer negative, and do not decarboxylate lysine. Taxonomically, the genus Citrobacter is most closely related to Salmonella and Escherichia.

In 1928, Braak described two strains of bacteria capable of forming trimethylene glycol from glycerol under anaerobic conditions. In honor of Freund's 1881 observation of trimethylene glycol as a fermentation product of glycerol, the strains were designated “Bacterium freundii” (Braak, 1928). One of these strains (ATCC 8454) was among the citrate-utilizing, lactose-fermenting coliforms that Werkman and Gillen...

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Authors
  1. Diana Borenshtein
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  2. David B. Schauer
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology University of Minnesota, University of Minnesota, 196, Minneapolis, MN, 55455-0312, USA

    Martin Dworkin

  2. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University Medical School, 299 Campus Drive, Fairchild, Stanford, CA, 94305-5124, USA

    Stanley Falkow

  3. Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, Tel Aviv University, 69978, Ramat-Aviv, Israel

    Eugene Rosenberg

  4. Department of Microbiology, Technical University Munich, 80290, Munich, Germany

    Karl-Heinz Schleifer

  5. DSMZ-German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GmbH, Mascheroder Weg 1b, 38124, Braunschweig, Germany

    Erko Stackebrandt

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© 2006 Springer-Verlag

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Borenshtein, D., Schauer, D.B. (2006). The Genus Citrobacter. In: Dworkin, M., Falkow, S., Rosenberg, E., Schleifer, KH., Stackebrandt, E. (eds) The Prokaryotes. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-30746-X_5

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