Leucobacter manosquensis sp. nov.-A Novel Bacterial Species Isolated from Healthy Human Skin

Manon Boxberger; Sibylle Magnien; Angeline Antezack; Clara Rolland; Marine Makoa Meng; Cheikh Ibrahima Lo; Bernard La Scola; Nadim Cassir

doi:10.3390/microorganisms11102535

Leucobacter manosquensis sp. nov.-A Novel Bacterial Species Isolated from Healthy Human Skin

Microorganisms. 2023 Oct 11;11(10):2535. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms11102535.

Authors

Manon Boxberger^{1

2}, Sibylle Magnien^{1

2}, Angeline Antezack^{1

2

3

4}, Clara Rolland^{1

2}, Marine Makoa Meng^{1

2}, Cheikh Ibrahima Lo¹, Bernard La Scola^{1

2}, Nadim Cassir^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ IHU Méditerranée Infection, 19-21 Boulevard Jean Moulin, 13005 Marseille, France.
² Institut de Recherche Pour le Développement (IRD), Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Marseille (AP-HM), MEPHI, Aix-Marseille Université, 19 Boulevard Jean Moulin, 13005 Marseille, France.
³ École de Médecine Dentaire, Faculté des Sciences Médicales et Paramédicales, Aix-Marseille Université, Boulevard Jean Moulin, 13385 Marseille, France.
⁴ Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Marseille (AP-HM), Hôpital Timone, Service de Parodontologie, 264, Rue Saint Pierre, 13385 Marseille, France.

Abstract

Extending our knowledge on human skin microbiota is a challenge to better decipher its role in health and disease. Using the culturomics method, we isolated strain Marseille-Q4368 from the healthy forehead of a 59-year-old woman. We describe here the main characteristics of this bacterium using a taxonogenomic approach. This new bacterial species is Gram-positive, non-motile, and non-spore-forming. Its 16S rRNA sequence exhibited a similarity of 99.59% with Leucobacter chromiiresistens, the most closely related species in terms of nomenclature. However, a digital DNA-DNA hybridization analysis between these two species revealed a maximum identity similarity of only 27.5%. We found phenotypical and genomic differences between strain Marseille-Q4368 and its closely related species. These findings underscore the classification of this bacterium as a distinct species. Hence, we propose the name Leucobacter manosquensis sp. nov. strain Marseille-Q4368 (=CSUR Q4368 = DSM 112403) for this newly identified bacterial species.

Keywords: Leucobacter; bacteria; culturomics; human skin microbiota; new species; taxonogenomics.

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the French state, managed by the National Research Agency under the “Investissements d’avenir (Investments for the Future)” program under the reference ANR-10-IAHU-03 (Méditerranée Infection), and by the Région Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur and the European funding FEDER PRIMI.