Having the shape or characteristics of a corynebacterium; resembling the club-shaped or rod-shaped structure of Corynebacterium.
From Corynebacterium plus Latin -formis meaning 'having the form of.' A microbiological term used to describe morphologically similar bacteria.
Coryneform bacteria are so-called not because they ARE corynebacteria but because they *look like* them under the microscope. This shows how microbiology relies on visual classification—before DNA sequencing, shape was destiny. Many coryneform bacteria turned out to be completely different when we could read their genetic code.
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