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

• Published in: International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology
• Main Authors: Koublová, Vendula, Sedlář, Karel, Sedláček, Ivo, Musilová, Jana, Staňková, Eva, Králová, Stanislava, Koudelková, Sylva, Krsek, Daniel, Švec, Pavel
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Microbiology Society 2024
• Subjects: Adélie penguin; Antarctica; Corynebacterium mendelii sp. nov; James Ross Island; taxonomy; Ross Island; Antarc*
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11012/245490; https://doi.org/10.1099/ijsem.0.006244

The taxonomic status of strain P5891T, 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 FRC0190T (96.7%) and Corynebacterium epidermidicanis DSM 45586T (96.6%). The average nucleotide identity values between strain P5891T and C. rouxii FRC0190T and C. epidermidicanis DSM 45586T were 68.2 and 69.2%, respectively. The digital DNA–DNA hybridization values between strain P5891T and C. rouxii FRC0190T and C. epidermidicanis DSM 45586T were 23.7 and 21.4%, respectively. Phylogenetic trees based on the 16S rRNA sequence placed strain P5891T in a separate branch with Corynebacterium canis 1170T and Corynebacterium freiburgense 1045T, while a phylogenomic tree based on the Corynebacterium species core genome placed the strain next to Corynebacterium choanae 200CHT. Extensive phenotyping and genomic analyses clearly confirmed that strain P5891T represents a novel species of the genus Corynebacterium, for which the name Corynebacterium mendelii sp. nov. is proposed, with the type strain P5891T (=CCM 8862T=LMG 31627T).