Bifidobacterium apis sp. nov., isolated from the gut of honeybee (Apis mellifera)

Abstract

A novel bifidobacterium (designated F753-1^T) was isolated from the gut of honeybee (Apis mellifera). Strain F753-1^T was characterized using a polyphasic taxonomic approach. Strain F753-1^T was phylogenetically related to the type strains of Bifidobacterium mizhiensis, Bifidobacterium asteroides, Bifidobacterium choladohabitans, Bifidobacterium mellis, Bifidobacterium apousia and Bifidobacterium polysaccharolyticum, having 98.4-99.8 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities. The phylogenomic tree indicated that strain F753-1^T was most closely related to the type strains of B. mellis and B. choladohabitans. Strain F753-1^T had the highest average nucleotide identity (94.1-94.5 %) and digital DNA-DNA hybridization (56.3 %) values with B. mellis Bin7N^T. Acid production from amygdalin, d-fructose, gentiobiose, d-mannose, maltose, sucrose and d-xylose, activity of α-galactosidase, pyruvate utilization and hydrolysis of hippurate could differentiate strain F753-1^T from B. mellis CCUG 66113^T and B. choladohabitans JCM 34586^T. Based upon the data obtained in the present study, a novel species, Bifidobacterium apis sp. nov., is proposed, and the type strain is F753-1^T (=CCTCC AB 2023227^T=JCM 36562^T=LMG 33388^T).

Keywords: Apis mellifera; Bifidobacterium; gut; honeybee; novel species.