identifier: traitmech:000140
label: lecithinase activity
definition: A physiological enzyme-activity phenotype in which a cell produces active
  lecithinases that hydrolyze lecithin or phosphatidylcholine.
definition_source: DOI:10.2147/IDR.S365254
trait_category: PHYSIOLOGY
term_kind: CLASS
mapping_status: PROPOSED
parent_traits:
- METPO:1000059
synonyms:
- synonym_text: lecithinase production
  synonym_type: RELATED_SYNONYM
  source: DOI:10.1128/jb.81.6.939-945.1961
- synonym_text: lecithinase reaction
  synonym_type: RELATED_SYNONYM
  source: DOI:10.2147/IDR.S365254
evidence:
- reference: DOI:10.2147/IDR.S365254
  snippet: all tested isolates were positive for lecithinase reaction and showed opaque
    zone around colonies on egg yolk agar
  notes: Algammal et al. used an egg-yolk agar lecithinase reaction to phenotype Bacillus
    cereus isolates.
- reference: DOI:10.1128/jb.81.6.939-945.1961
  snippet: egg yolk were used for the demonstration of lecithinase activity
  notes: Esselmann and Liu surveyed lecithinase production by Gram-negative bacteria
    on egg-yolk agar.
canonical_examples:
- taxon_id: NCBITaxon:1396
  taxon_label: Bacillus cereus
  note: Bacillus cereus isolates from diseased Mugil seheli were positive for lecithinase
    reaction on egg-yolk agar.
  reference: DOI:10.2147/IDR.S365254
discussions:
- discussion_id: lecithinase-activity-xref-gap
  prompt: Resolve an exact external ontology class for lecithinase activity before
    adding a TraitRecord xref.
  kind: CURATION_TODO
  status: OPEN
  rationale: GO:0004629 denotes C-type glycerophospholipase molecular function rather
    than the organism-level lecithinase production phenotype, so it is too scope-shifted
    for an equivalent TraitRecord xref.
  posed_by: codex
  posed_date: '2026-09-11'
curation_history:
- timestamp: '2026-09-11T00:00:00Z'
  curator: codex
  action: MINTED_TRAITMECH_ID
  changes: Minted lecithinase activity as a DOI-backed TraitRecord after a repository-wide
    duplicate review covering ignored and hidden files; METPO has no exact lecithinase
    activity class yet.
  llm_assisted: true