Corynebacterium

diphteria
Amanda Diannisa
Tutor 6
 TAXONOMY

Kingdom : Bacteria
Phylum : Actinobacteria
Order : Actinomycetales
Suborder : Corynebacterineae
Family : Corynebacteriaceae
Genus : Corynebacterium
Species : Corynebacterium diphteriae
● non-motile, non-encapsulated, non-sporulating
● Aerobic gram (+) bacilli
● 0,5 – 1 micrometer in diameter, several
micrometers long
● occurs in four biovars: gravis, mitis,
intermedius, and belfanti, based on colonial
morphology and biochemical profiles.
● Club-shaped rods that form metachromatic
granules (granules staining deeply with aniline
dyes), black colonies on tellurite media
EPIDEMIOLOGY
● Found in mucous membrane of throat & nasopharynx of carriers & patients with
diphteria
● Transmit via respiratory droplets, less frequently by direct contact with infected
individuals or fomites
VIRULENCE
FACTOR
● Diphtheria toxin is a heat-labile, single-chain, threedomain polypeptide (62 kDa)
that can be lethal in a dose of 0.1 μg/kg body weight.
 PATHOGENESIS
Diphtheria is caused by the local and systemic effects of a single exotoxin
that inhibits eukaryotic protein synthesis. The toxin molecule is a heat-
labile polypeptide that is composed of two fragments, A and B. Fragment
B binds to susceptible cell membranes and mediates the delivery of
fragment A to its target. Inside the cell, fragment A separates from fragment
B and catalyzes a reaction between nicotine adenine dinucleotide (NAD+)
and the eukaryotic polypeptide chain elongation factor, EF-21 (Figure
10.2). The toxin is encoded on a β-coryne - phage and only those strains in
which the phage is integrated into the C. diphtheriae chromosome produce
toxin. Toxin gene expression is also regulated by environmental conditions.
Low iron conditions induce toxin expression, whereas high iron
condtions repress toxin production.
LAB
IDENTIFICATION
● Swabs from the nose, throat, or other lesion
 transport in semisolid transport media
(Amies)  stained with alkaline methylene
blue/Gram stain  beaded rods form
“palisade arrangement” that look like
Chinese characters or picket fence
arrangement
LAB IDENTIFICATION
● Culture on blood agar (to rule out hemolytic streptococci)
or selective medium tellurite plate (cystine-tellurite blood
agar (CTBA) or modified Tinsdale’s medium) incubated at
37°C in 5% CO2
● Tellurite medium  black colonies with halo
● Plates should be examined in 18-24 hours
CLINICAL
SIGNIFICANCE
REFERENCES
1. Jawetz Microbiology
2. Lippincott’s Microbiology