Mycobacterium smegmatis
       Mycobacterium smegmatis       Scientific classification    Kingdom:    Bacteria     Phylum:    Actinobacteria     Order:    Actinomycetales     Family:    Mycobacteriaceae     Genus:    Mycobacterium     Species:    M. smegmatis     Binomial name    Mycobacterium smegmatis (Trevisan 1889) Lehmann & Neumann 1899    Mycobacterium smegmatis  is an acid-fast bacterial species in the phylum Actinobacteria  and the genus Mycobacterium .  It is 3.0 to 5.0 µm long with a bacillus shape and can be stained by Ziehl-Neelsen method and the auramine-rhodamine fluorescent method. It was first reported in November 1884 by Lustgarten, who found a bacillus with the staining appearance of tubercle bacilli in syphilitic chancres.  Subsequent to this, Alvarez and Tavel found organisms similar to that described by Lustgarten also in normal genital secretions (smegma). This organism was later named M. smegmatis . [1]    Contents      1  Pathogenicity    2  Use in research    3  Transformation    ...