Dolosigranulum savutiense sp. nov., isolated from human upper respiratory samples collected in Botswana

Abstract

Four strains (MSK211, MSK294T, MSK312, MSK433) of a novel Dolosigranulum species were cultured from nasopharyngeal swabs collected from mother–infant dyads in southern Botswana. These strains grew optimally on tryptic soy agar with 5% sheep blood solid medium and in fastidious bacteria broth. Colonies on tryptic soy agar with 5% sheep blood agar appeared grey or white with a flat, smooth surface and variable alpha haemolysis. Cells were Gram-positive, non-spore-forming, non-motile cocci that lacked catalase or oxidase activity. Major fatty acids were C16 : 0 (palmitic acid), C18 : 1 ω9c (oleic acid), and C18 : 0 (stearic acid). Analyses of 16S rRNA gene sequences identified these strains as belonging to the genus Dolosigranulum (family Carnobacteriaceae), which currently contains only a single validly published species (Dolosigranulum pigrum). Whole-genome sequencing revealed that the genomes of these strains are 1.98–2.07 Mbp in size and have a G+C content of 39.6–39.9 mol%. Comparisons of these genomes to publicly available genomes of D. pigrum yielded average nucleotide identities and in silico DNA–DNA hybridization values of 92.3–92.9% and 49.1–51.4%, respectively. These results indicate that these strains represent a novel species of Dolosigranulum, for which we propose the name Dolosigranulum savutiense sp. nov., with the type strain MSK294T (=DSM 117171T=JCM 36673T).