Corynebacterium glucuronolyticum in men with and without urethritis syndrome: An underrecognized pathogen or a bona fide commensal?

Prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility profile of Corynebacterium glucuronolyticum in genitourinary tract samples

INTRODUCTION

Corynebacterium glucuronolyticum (C. glucuronolyticum) is a species recently recognized as a potential pathogen of the male genitourinary tract. The objective is to determine the prevalence of C. glucuronolyticum in genitourinary tract samples as well as their antimicrobial susceptibility profile.

METHODS

A prospective study was conducted from 1st of November 2021 to the 30th of November 2022, for all genitourinary tract samples collected from male patients with suspicion of balanitis, prostatitis and urethritis. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed in all C. glucuronolyticum isolates.

RESULTS

A total of 73 C. glucuronolyticum isolates from 693 clinical specimens were obtained. This represents an overall C. glucuronolyticum prevalence of 10.5%. All strains were susceptible to vancomycin, linezolid and rifampicin, whereas 94%, 68% and 65% were resistant to clindamycin, tetracycline and ciprofloxacin, respectively.

CONCLUSION

Clinical microbiology laboratories should perform antimicrobial susceptibility testing against C. glucuronolyticum due to the significant rate of resistance to ciprofloxacin and tetracycline.

Application of extremophile cell factories in industrial biotechnology

Due to the extreme living conditions, extremophiles have unique characteristics in morphology, structure, physiology, biochemistry, molecular evolution mechanism and so on. Extremophiles have superior growth and synthesis capabilities under harsh conditions compared to conventional microorganisms, allowing for unsterilized fermentation processes and thus better performance in low-cost production. In recent years, due to the development and optimization of molecular biology, synthetic biology and fermentation technology, the identification and screening technology of extremophiles has been greatly improved. In this review, we summarize techniques for the identification and screening of extremophiles and review their applications in industrial biotechnology in recent years. In addition, the facts and perspectives gathered in this review suggest that next-generation industrial biotechnology (NGIBs) based on engineered extremophiles holds the promise of simplifying biofuturing processes, establishing open, non-sterilized continuous fermentation production systems, and utilizing low-cost substrates to make NGIBs attractive and cost-effective bioprocessing technologies for sustainable manufacturing.