Actinomyces marmotae sp. nov. and Actinomyces procaprae sp. nov. isolated from wild animals and reclassification of Actinomyces liubingyangii and Actinomyces tangfeifanii as Boudabousia liubingyangii comb. nov. and Boudabousia tangfeifanii comb. nov., respectively

Abstract

Four Gram-stain-positive, catalase-negative, non-spore-forming, rod-shaped bacterial strains (zg-325T, zg329, dk561T and dk752) were isolated from the respiratory tract of marmot (Marmota himalayana) and the faeces of Tibetan gazelle (Procapra picticaudata) from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau of PR China. The results of 16S rRNA gene sequence-based phylogenetic analyses indicated that strains zg-325T and dk561T represent members of the genus Actinomyces , most similar to Actinomyces denticolens DSM 20671T and Actinomyces ruminicola B71T, respectively. The DNA G+C contents of strains zg-325T and dk561T were 71.6 and 69.3 mol%, respectively. The digital DNA–DNA hybridization values of strains zg-325T and dk561T with their most closely related species were below the 70 % threshold for species demarcation. The four strains grew best at 35 °C in air containing 5 % CO2 on brain heart infusion (BHI) agar with 5 % sheep blood. All four strains had C18:1ω9c and C16:0 as the major cellular fatty acids. MK-8 and MK-9 were the major menaquinones in zg-325T while MK-10 was predominant in dk561T. The major polar lipids included diphosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylinositol. On the basis of several lines of evidence from phenotypic and phylogenetic analyses, zg-325T and dk561T represent novel species of the genus Actinomyces , for which the name Actinomyces marmotae sp. nov. and Actinomyces procaprae sp. nov. are proposed. The type strains are zg-325T (=GDMCC 1.1724T=JCM 34091T) and dk561T (=CGMCC 4.7566T=JCM 33484T). We also propose, on the basis of the phylogenetic results herein, the reclassification of Actinomyces liubingyangii and Actinomyces tangfeifanii as Boudabousia liubingyangii comb. nov. and Boudabousia tangfeifanii comb. nov., respectively.