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Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Veterinary bacteriology: information about important bacteria
Veterinary bacteriology


Species/Subspecies: Bacillus cereus
Categories: Causes hemolysis; spore forming; motile
Etymology: Genus name: small rod
Species epithet: wax colored
Significance:  [Very important]   
Taxonomy:
Phylum
Bacillota
Class
Bacilli
Order
Bacillales
Family
Bacillaceae 
Genus
Bacillus
Type Strain: ATCC 14579 = CCUG 7414 = NCTC 2599
Macromorphology (smell):
Bacillus cereus  Bacillus cereus  
Large, opaque, grey-yellow, granular, flat colonies (diameter 5-10 mm). Most strains produce a clear broad zone of hemolysis on blood agar.
Micromorphology:
Bacillus cereus  Bacillus cereus  
Large (1 x 5-10 µm) motile rods, centrally located endospores can sometimes be seen as uncolored regions after Gram staining of cells from older cultures. May form spores.
Gram +/Gram -:
Bacillus cereus  
G+ (Cells from older cultures can appear as G - because the cell wall degenerates)
Metabolism: Facultatively anaerobic
Catalase/Oxidase:+/-
Other Enzymes: Lecithinase +
Fermentation of carbohydrates:
D-glucose
+
lactose
-
maltose
+
L-rhamnose
-
sucrose
v
L-arabinose
-
cellobiose
v
D-mannitol
-
salicin
(+)
trehalose
+
glycerol
+
inulin
-
raffinose
-
D-sorbitol
-
starch
(+)
Other carbohydrates: Fructose +, D-mannose -, ribose +, xylitol -.
Spec. Char.:
Special Media:
Bacillus cereus  
MYP agar is often used for confirmation of suspected B. cereus colonies from food samples.
Disease:
HostsDiseaseClinical picture
HumansFood poisoningThere are a vomiting type with short incubation (<6h) and a diarrhea type with a slightly longer incubation time (6-24h)
Cattle (cow)MastitisHave occasionally been associated with cases of mastitis.
Genome Sequence:
Acc-noStrainSize (bp)Genome
NC_006274 E33L 5 300 915  

16S rRNA Seq.:
Acc-noStrainNumber of NTOperon
AE016877 (T) komplett 13 

Taxonomy/phylogeny:
Bacillus cereus  
About 250 species have been described within the genus Bacillus. B. cereus is very closely related to Bacillus anthracis and Bacillus thuringiensis.
Comment:Spore forming.
Reference(s): No. 111
Updated:2023-03-08

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