Download Streptococcus agalactiae

Danique McFarlane
Professor Smyth
Microbiology
April 8, 2013
Streptococcus agalactiae
My name is Streptococcus agalactiae. I am a gram positive bacteria. My cell wall is made of a
thick peptidoglycan layer. Because of the thick peptidoglycan layer of my cell wall, I can’t be
stained using a simple stain method; I have to be stained using the gram stain method. During
the gram stain reaction I stain purple and my shape is cocci and I arrange myself as a chainlike
structure. My family members are Streptococcus pneumonia, Streptococcus mutans, and
Streptococcus pyogenes. I have many different factors. Some of them include respiration,
metabolism, and virulence factors. These are the factors that help me to survive. In addition, I am
a pathogen that causes several different diseases.
The type of metabolism that I carry out is aerobic metabolism or anaerobic metabolism. I am
a facultative anaerobic organism. This means that I am capable of using oxygen or not using
oxygen depending on my surrounding environment to generate ATP. The type of respiration
that I carry out is aerobic respiration. I am a pathogen that causes diseases in neonates. I
usually live in intestine and vagina in about 10-30% of pregnant women. As a result of that, I
become too friendly and cause infection in newborns by passing through the birth canal
during birth; this could be very harmful. The infection that I cause could create diseases such
as meningitis, osteomyelitis, and bacteremia. I also cause infection in the mammary glands of
mammals such as cows and sheep. As a result of that, mammals lose their reproductive
capacity due to blocked milk channels through inflammation. I possess two main virulence
factors that accounts for my pathogenicity; they are pore forming toxins and a sialic acidic
rich, antiphagocytic capsular polysaccharide. The capsular polysaccharide helps the bacterium
to cause more infections by preventing it from being opsonized and phagocytosed. My pore
forming toxins disrupt target cell membrane structures, leading to cell lysis and red blood cell
damage. I am not really famous in the news, but further study is currently in process to
identify the exact target to control my pathogenesis.
Kingdom: Bacteria
Phylum: Firmicutes
Class: Bacilli
Order: Lactobacillales
Family: Streptococcaceae
Genus: Streptococcus
Species: Streptococcus agalactiae
My family members and friends
Streptococcus
pneumoniae
Streptococcus
pyrogenes
Streptococcus
mutans
Streptococcus
agalactiae
friends
Phylum
Class Order
Family
Genus
Firmicutes Bacilli Lactobacillales Streptococcaceae Streptococcus
References
http://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Streptococcus_agalactiae
http://www.bacteriainphotos.com/bacteria%20under%20microscope/streptococcus%20agalactiae
%20microscopy.html#
http://www.vetbact.org/vetbact/?artid=16#
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC251888/
http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/streptococcus_agalactiae
http://www.livestrong.com/article/71135-b-strep-symptoms/
http://www.emedicinehealth.com/group_b_strep_infection/page2_em.htm