Enterococcus canintestini sp. nov., from faecal samples of healthy dogs

Abstract

The taxonomic position of strain LMG 13590(T), originally isolated from dog faeces and classified as Enterococcus dispar in the BCCM/LMG Bacteria Catalogue, was reinvestigated. This strain and 12 recent isolates from faecal samples of healthy dogs occupied a clearly separate position when investigated with multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA) of the genes encoding the alpha subunit of ATP synthase (atpA), RNA polymerase alpha subunit (rpoA) and phenylalanyl-tRNA synthase alpha subunit (pheS). The 16S rRNA gene sequence of one representative strain showed highest similarities of 98-99% with E. dispar LMG 13521(T), Enterococcus canis LMG 12316(T) and Enterococcus asini LMG 18727(T). A further polyphasic taxonomic study based on whole-cell protein fingerprinting, DNA-DNA hybridization and biochemical features demonstrated that the 13 enterococcal dog faecal strains represent a single, novel Enterococcus species for which the name Enterococcus canintestini sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is LMG 13590(T) (=CCM 7285(T)).