Moraxella pluranimalium

Moraxella pluranimalium is a Gram-negative, aerobic, catalase- and oxidase-positive, non-spore-forming bacterium in the genus Moraxella. It was originally isolated from the nasal turbinate of a pig in Spain.

Etymology

The species name pluranimalium is derived from the Latin pluri- and animalium, referring to its isolation from multiple animal species.

In a survey of bacteria from healthy pigs in Great Britain, one isolate of M. pluranimalium was found to carry the chromosomally-encoded mcr-6.1 gene, a variant of the colistin resistance determinant. Phenotypic testing showed reduced susceptibility to colistin.
The type strain has been shown to harbor the chromosomal gene mcr-2.2, a close variant of mcr-2, conferring high-level resistance to colistin. This strain is considered a likely natural source of mcr-2-type genes before their mobilization into plasmids circulating in Enterobacteriaceae.