Habitat and Morphology of Klebsiella pneumoniae

Habitat of Klebsiella pneumoniae

1. They are found in mouth, skin and intestinal tract of human beings.
2. They are also found in soil, water and sewage.
3. Also found in bowel and respiratory tract of humans and animals.
4. Found in the hands of hospital personnel.
5. They are responsible for community and hospital acquired infections.
6. People requiring equipment’s such as catheters and ventilators are at high risk.

Morphology of Klebsiella pneumoniae

1. They are also called as Friedlander’s bacillus.
2. They are gram -ve rod shaped bacteria.
3. They appear diplococcic in the body.
4. Cells are either in pairs end to end or are arranged singly.
5. They are 1-2 µm long and 0.5-0.8 µm wide.
6. They have parallel or bulging sides and rounded or slightly pointed ends.
7. They are capsulated. They have thick capsule layer of about 160 nm.
8. They are non-motile.
9. They form type-1 fimbriae.

Genome (MGH 78578) of Klebsiella pneumoniae

1. DNA is circular.
2. Plasmid is circular.
3. They have circular chromosome.
4. GC Content: 57%.
5. They contain 5 plasmids (pKPN3, pKPN4, pKPN5, pKPN6 and pKPN7).
6. Number of nucleotides: 5694894
7. Number of protein genes: 5185
8. Number of RNA genes: 111