Bacterium
Listeria monocytogenes
Tumbling motility Gram-positive rod
lis-TEER-ee-uh mon-oh-sy-TAH-jeh-neez
High-yield clue
Gram-positive rod + tumbling motility + intracellular actin-tail vocabulary.
Overview
A Gram-positive rod used in coursework for intracellular movement vocabulary, tumbling motility, and foodborne exposure associations.
Classification
- Gram-positive
- Rod
- Facultative intracellular concept
Lab & identification clues
- Tumbling motility vocabulary
- Narrow beta-hemolysis teaching clue
- Intracellular movement concept
Associations
- Foodborne exposure vocabulary
- Pregnancy/neonatal coursework association
- Cell-mediated immunity concept
Commonly confused with
- Corynebacterium diphtheriae
- Streptococcus agalactiae
Your notes
Original student-study summary. Sources checked: OpenStax Microbiology 2e, NCBI Bookshelf Medical Microbiology, and CDC topic pages where applicable; reviewed 2026-06. Educational only; no diagnosis, treatment, dosing, or specimen-handling guidance.