Discovery of Microbacterium hatanonis in hairspray products

New Bacterium

Scientists in Japan, Mohammad Abdul Bakir, Takuji Kudo and Yoshimi Benno, have discovered a new species of bacteria named Microbacterium hatanonis sp. Nov. that can live in the cosmetic product hairspray (New species of bacteria contaminates hairspray, 2008). The scientists reported this discovery in the March, 2008 issue of the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. They named Microbacterium hatanonis in honor of Dr. Kazunori Hatano, a well-known Microbacterium expert (Contaminated hairspray, 2008).

Uniqueness

The scientists looked at the appearance and diet of the bacterium and then analysed its genome to show that it is a new species (New species of bacteria contaminates hairspray, 2008). Although the bacteria belonged to the previously known genus Microbacterium, the scientists determined that it had a distinct, evolutionary lineage on the basis of the morphological, physiological and chemotaxonomic data and the results of the comparative 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis (Bakir, Kudo and Benno, 2008).

Taxonomy

Bakir, Kudo and Benno (2008) report that Microbacterium hatanonis is an aerobic, rod-shaped, gram-positive, oxidase-ngative, catalase-positive bacterial isolate. The cell wall of Microbacterium hatanonis contained ornithine and the cell-wall sugars consisted of rhamnose and galactose. The main respiratory quinones were MK-12 (38%) and MK-11 (35%). The major cellular fatty acids were anteiso-C15: 0 (48%), anteiso-C17: 0 (35%) and iso-C16: 0 (11%). The DNA G+C content was 69 mol%. The isolate showed

Conclusion

The discovery of Microbacterium hatanonis is significant because contamination of cosmetic products has previously been thought to be rare. This new species in hairspray will no doubt lead to further research in this area, especially since Microbacterium hatanonis can grow in an environment which is pH neutral and 30°C, the environment common in the manufacturing of may commercial cosmetic products (Contaminated hairspray, 2008). Hairspray, with its high alcohol content, had not seemed to provide the ideal conditions for life and there are certainly other cosmetics with more conducive conditional for bacteria to thrive.

If the new species in hairspray is found to be a health risk to consumers, research into bacteria in other cosmetics will expand even faster.