Staphylococcus argensis sp. nov., a novel staphylococcal species isolated from an aquatic environment

Abstract

A staphylocoagulase-negative, novobiocin-susceptible strain (M4S-6T) of a species of the genus Staphylococcus was isolated from the river Argen in Southern Germany. It was assigned to the genus Staphylococcus due to the presence of the fatty acids, ai-C15 : 0, i-C15 : 0, i-C17 : 0, ai-C17 : 0, and of menaquinone (MK-7) in the cytoplasmic membrane, which are typical of coagulase-negative staphylococci. The polar lipid profile consisted of phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol, an unknown phospholipid and an unknown glycolipid. Although the 16S gene sequence of strain M4S-6T revealed a 98 % similarity with its closest relative, Staphylococcus pettenkoferi, it could be distinguished by several phenotypical and physiological markers. In contrast to S. pettenkoferi, M4S-6T was ornithine decarboxylase-positive, urease-negative and could use formiate and l-histidine as carbon-sources; nitrate was not reduced. Whereas S. pettenkoferi could grow with d(-)-mannitol, d-sorbitol, gluconic acid, l-proline, carboxymethylcellulose and lignosulfonate, M4S-6T was not able to grow with these substances. The results of 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis and of phenotypic testing indicated that M4S-6T was a representative of a novel species for which the name Staphylococcus argensis sp. nov., is proposed with the type strain M4S-6T (DSM 29875T = CIP 110904T).