Corynebacterium mendelii sp. nov., a novel bacterium isolated from Adélie penguin oral cavity

Abstract

The taxonomic status of strain P5891^T, isolated from an Adélie penguin beak swab, was investigated. Based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence, the strain was identified as a potentially novel Corynebacterium species, with the highest sequence similarities to Corynebacterium rouxii FRC0190^T (96.7 %) and Corynebacterium epidermidicanis DSM 45586^T (96.6 %). The average nucleotide identity values between strain P5891^T and C. rouxii FRC0190^T and C. epidermidicanis DSM 45586^T were 68.2 and 69.2 %, respectively. The digital DNA-DNA hybridization values between strain P5891^T and C. rouxii FRC0190^T and C. epidermidicanis DSM 45586^T were 23.7 and 21.4 %, respectively. Phylogenetic trees based on the 16S rRNA sequence placed strain P5891^T in a separate branch with Corynebacterium canis 1170^T and Corynebacterium freiburgense 1045^T, while a phylogenomic tree based on the Corynebacterium species core genome placed the strain next to Corynebacterium choanae 200CH^T. Extensive phenotyping and genomic analyses clearly confirmed that strain P5891^T represents a novel species of the genus Corynebacterium, for which the name Corynebacterium mendelii sp. nov. is proposed, with the type strain P5891^T (=CCM 8862^T=LMG 31627^T).

Keywords: Adélie penguin; Antarctica; Corynebacterium mendelii sp. nov.; James Ross Island; taxonomy.