<i>Tannockella kyphosi</i> gen. nov., sp. nov., a member of the family <i>Erysipelotrichaceae</i>, isolated from the hindgut of the marine herbivorous fish <i>Kyphosus sydneyanus</i>.

Abstract

A Gram-stain-positive, non-spore-forming, rod-shaped, obligately anaerobic bacterium, designated strain BP52G^T, was isolated from the hindgut of a Silver Drummer (<i>Kyphosus sydneyanus</i>) fish collected from the Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing indicated that the isolate belonged to the family <i>Erysipelotrichaceae</i> in the phylum Firmicutes and was most closely related to <i>Clostridium saccharogumia</i> with 93.3 % sequence identity. Isolate BP52G^T grew on agar medium containing mannitol as the sole carbon source. White, opaque and shiny colonies of the isolate measuring approximately 1 mm diameter grew within a week at 20-28 °C (optimum, 24 °C) and pH 6.9-8.5 (optimum, pH 7.8). BP52G^T tolerated the addition of up to 1 % NaCl to the medium. Formate and acetate were the major fermentation products. The major cellular fatty acids were C_{16 : 0}, C_16:1n-7t and C_18:1n-7t. The genome sequence of the isolate was determined. Its G+C content was 30.7 mol%, and the 72.65 % average nucleotide identity of the BP52G^T genome to its closest neighbour with a completely sequenced genome (<i>Erysipelatoclostridium ramosum</i> JCM 1298^T) indicated low genomic relatedness. Based on the phenotypic and taxonomic characteristics observed in this study, a novel genus and species <i>Tannockella kyphosi</i> gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed for isolate BP52G^T (=NZRM 4757^T=JCM 34692^T).