Isolation and Characterization of Micrococci From Human Skin, Including Two New Species: Micrococcus lylae and Micrococcus kristinae

Abstract

Micrococci were commonly isolated from the skins of people living in various regions of the United States. Not all micrococci isolated in this investigation could be identified with the currently recognized species of Micrococcus, viz., M. luteus, M. varians, or M. roseus, and these micrococci therefore became the subject of further taxonomic study. As a result of this study, two new species are proposed: Micrococcus lylae and M. kristinae. The type strains of these species are ATCC 27566 and ATCC 27570, respectively. Numerous strains were isolated that were similar to M. sedentarius or M. nishinomiyaensis, species that were previously represented by only single strains. (ZoBell’s strain 541 [ATCC 14392; CCM 314] is designated herein as the type strain of M. sedentarius.) A few micrococci were left unclassified. A variety of morphological, physiological, biochemical, and genetic characters were examined for their use as taxonomic criteria, and key characters, many of which can be determined by simple laboratory procedures, were selected for species differentiation. The more sophisticated studies of aliphatic hydrocarbons and cell-wall peptidoglycans were also very useful in the taxonomy of the micrococci. The predominant micrococci found on human skin were M. luteus and M. varians.