Legionella tunisiensis sp. nov. and Legionella massiliensis sp. nov., isolated from environmental water samples

Abstract

Two isolates of intra-amoeba-growing bacteria, LegAT ( = DSM 24804T = CSUR P146T) and LegMT ( = DSM 24805T = CSUR P145T), were characterized on the basis of microscopic appearance, staining characteristics, axenic growth at different temperatures and the sequences of the mip, rpoB, 16S rRNA and rnpb genes, as well as the 23S–5S region. Phylogenetic analysis showed that these two isolates lay within the radius of the family Legionellaceae . Furthermore, the analysis of these genes yielded congruent data that indicated that, although strain LegMT clusters specifically with Legionella feeleii ATCC 35072T and LegAT clusters with Legionella nautarum ATCC 49596T, the divergence observed between these species was greater than that observed between other members of the family. Taken together, these results support the proposal that these two isolates represent novel members of the genus Legionella , and we propose to name them Legionella tunisiensis sp. nov. for LegMT ( = DSM 24805T = CSUR P145T) and Legionella massiliensis sp. nov. for LegAT ( = DSM 24804T = CSUR P146T).