@article{mbs:/content/journal/ijsem/10.1099/ijs.0.046979-0, author = "Bernard, Kathryn and Pacheco, Ana Luisa and Cunningham, Ian and Gill, Navdeep and Burdz, Tamara and Wiebe, Deborah", title = "Emendation of the description of the species Corynebacterium propinquum to include strains which produce urease", journal= "International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology", year = "2013", volume = "63", number = "Pt_6", pages = "2146-2154", doi = "https://doi.org/10.1099/ijs.0.046979-0", url = "https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/ijsem/10.1099/ijs.0.046979-0", publisher = "Microbiology Society", issn = "1466-5034", type = "Journal Article", abstract = " Corynebacterium propinquum is a Gram-positive rod occasionally recovered from clinical infections which, according to 16S rRNA gene sequencing, is most closely related (>99 % sequence similarity) to Corynebacterium pseudodiphtheriticum . The two species are very similar biochemically, commonly differentiated by a single test, the detection of urease, where strains of C. propinquum are described as being urease-non-producing and strains of C. pseudodiphtheriticum are described as urease-producing. In this study, historical and contemporary strains of C. propinquum and C. pseudodiphtheriticum from this laboratory were definitively characterized, which included use of rpoB sequencing. Urease-producing strains of C. propinquum as well as typical urease-non-producing isolates were identified after rpoB sequencing, with six of these being originally identified as C. pseudodiphtheriticum . Based on these observations, we propose emendation of the description of C. propinquum to include strains which produce urease. MALDI-TOF analysis may be a useful tool to differentiate these taxa. Existing commercial databases should be updated to include urease-positive strains of C. propinquum .", }