The search for substitutes for petroleum products from renewable resources has increased dramatically in recent years. Originally ethanol was the focus as a biofuel to replace gasoline; recently there has been a shift towards longer chain alcohols such as isopropanol. Acetone is an intermediate in the isopropanol production pathway. During a fermentation experiment with the Clostridium strain P11 grown on synthesis gas (mixture of CO/CO₂/H₂) as the sole carbon and energy source, the synthesis gas was found to be contaminated with 3% oxygen. Growth still occurred in these cultures despite P11’s inability to grow in the presence of 0.03% oxygen.  Upon microscopic examination two distinctive cell morphologies were found. A Gram-positive cocci was isolated from the culture and designated as TS1. The TS1 isolate was unable to grow on CO/CO₂/H₂ as the sole energy and carbon source. TS1 was determined to be a facultative anaerobe with growth occurring both aerobically and anaerobically. When grown anaerobically with glucose as the carbon source, the major products formed were ethanol, acetate, acetone, isopropanol and carbon dioxide. The TS1 isolate was able to grow when the media contained 3% (w/v) ethanol, but no significant growth was observed when media contained 10% (w/v) ethanol. Phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rDNA indicates that TS1 belongs to the Staphylococcus genus and is closely related to S. epidermidis (99%) and S. aureus (98%).  To date very few mesophilic bacteria outside of the Clostridium genus has been reported as being able to produce acetone and isopropanol.