Kosakonia cowanii
Kosakonia cowanii is a Gram-negative, motile, facultatively-anaerobic, rod-shaped species in the genus Kosakonia. The species is typically associated with natural environments and is found in soil, water, and sewage. K. cowanii is associated with plant pathogens that exhibit symptoms of severe defoliation and plant death. This species, originally referred to as NIH Group 42, was first proposed in 2000 as a potential member of the family Enterobacteriaceae. The name of this species honors S. T. Cowan, an English bacteriologist, for his significant contributions to the field of bacterial taxonomy.
Phenotypic characterization
Kosakonia cowanii is phenotypically defined as being a Gram-negative, motile, and facultative anaerobic bacterium. The morphology of this bacterium is described as being cream colored when cultured on non-selective, YDC medium. When tested for enzyme production, K. cowanii is asparagine and catalase positive, while also being urease and oxidase negative. When originally introduced as NIH Group 42, seventy traditional phenotypic characteristics were determined and listed by Kohaku et al.Genotypic characterization
The diversity of strains present in the Kosakonia cowanii species have been confirmed through analysis of DNA G+C content and DNA-DNA Hybridization results, which involves the hybridizing of putative strains to K. cowanii LMG 23569T. A DNA similarity of 70% or greater indicates that strains of interest are the same species. When testing for DNA-DNA similarity comparing the rpoB gene of K. cowanii, the strains BCC 009, BCC 011, BCC 078 showed 76% to 92% DNA similarity.N.B. Using a multilocus sequence analysis approach, based on partial sequencing of protein-encoding genes, this species was reclassified to the genus Kosakonia, so that its name is more properly given as Kosakonia cowanii.