Corynebacterium

Corynebacterium (kôr"u-nē-bak-tēr'ē-um, ku-rin'u-) is a genus of Gram-positive, aerobic, rod-shaped bacteria. They are widely distributed in nature and are mostly innocuous. Some are useful in industrial settings such as C. glutamicum. Others can cause human disease, including most notably diphtheria, which is caused by C. diphtheriae.