Clostridium aromaproducens sp. nov., isolated from pit mud used for producing Wuliangye baijiu

Abstract

Abstract A strictly anaerobic, gram-positive bacterium, designated as WLY-B-L2T, was isolated from pit mud of a fermentation pit located at Wuliangye 501# baijiu workshop in Yibin (Sichuan province, PR China). The strain has straight or somewhat rod-shaped cells, which are 0.5–0.7 µm wide and 1.7–3.1 µm long, arranged singly or in pairs. The strain can produce butyric acid and utilize D-galacturonic acid, methyl pyruvate, L-lactamine, L-alanyl-L-glutamine, L-alanyl-L-histidine, glycerol, pyruvate, L-alanyl-L-threonine, L-methionine, L-phenylalanine, L-valine + L- aspartic acid, L-serine, L-valine, and thymidine as carbon sources. Major cellular fatty acids are C16: 0 (24.6%), anteiso-C15: 0 (16.5%), and iso-C15: 0 (14.1%). Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence, WLY-B-L2T is most closely related to Clostridium luticellarii FW431T; they exhibit 97.42% 16S rRNA similarity. Additionally, the digital DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH) value between them is 28.10%. WLY-B-L2T has a G + C content of 34.16 mol%. Based on the evidence presented here, WLY-B-L2T (CICC 25133T = JCM 35127T) is proposed as the type strain of a novel species, designated as Clostridium aromatiproducens sp. nov.