Pseudomonas Aeruginosa

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a Gram-negative, aerobic, rod-shaped bacterium with unipolar motility.  An opportunistic human pathogen, P. aeruginosa is also an opportunistic pathogen of plants. aeruginosa is the type species of the genus Pseudomonas (Migula 1894).

 aeruginosa secretes a variety of pigments, including pyocyanin (blue-green), fluorescent (yellow-green and fluorescent, now also known as pyoverdin), and pyorubin (red-brown). King, Ward, and Raney developed Pseudomonas Agar P (aka King A media) for enhancing pyocyanin and pyorubin production and Pseudomonas Agar F (aka King B media) for enhancing fluorescein production.P. aeruginosa is often preliminarily identified by its pearlescent appearance and grape-like odor in vitro.

 Definitive clinical identification of P. aeruginosa often includes identifying the production of both pyocyanin and fluorescein as well as its ability to grow at 42°C. P. aeruginosa is capable of growth in diesel and jet fuel, where it is known as a hydrocarbon utilizing microorganism (or "HUM bug"), causing microbial corrosion. It creates dark gellish mats sometimes improperly called "algae" because of their appearance.