Isolation and Characterization of Staphylococci from Human Skin I. Amended Descriptions of Staphylococcus epidermidis and Staphylococcus saprophyticus and Descriptions of Three New Species: Staphylococcus cohnii, Staphylococcus haemolyticus, and Staphylococcus xylosus

Abstract

Staphylococci were isolated from human skin and subjected to a taxonomic study. As a result of this study, three new species are being proposed in this paper: Staphylococcus cohnii, S. haemolyticus, and S. xylosus. The type strains of these species are DSM (Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen) 20260, DSM 20263, and DSM 20266, respectively. Amended descriptions of S. epidermidis and S. saprophyticus are also given. The main characters for the distinction of staphylococci and micrococci are mentioned. Staphylococci were classified on the basis of cell wall composition, lactic acid configuration, and a variety of morphological and physiological characters. There are some key differential characters of these species which can be determined by simple laboratory procedures. The failure to ferment trehalose and mannitol is typical for S. epidermidis. The fermentation of xylose and/or arabinose is a characteristic of S. xylosus. The failure to ferment sucrose and turanose is typical for S. cohnii. Strains of S. saprophyticus do not reduce nitrate, but most of them produce acetylmethylcarbinol and ferment xylitol. S. haemolyticus is usually hemolysis positive, like S. aureus, but it does not produce coagulase, does not have strong phosphatase and deoxy-ribonuclease activities, and does not ferment mannose.