Asaccharobacter celatus gen. nov., sp nov., isolated from rat caecum

An obligately anaerobic and equol-producing bacterium, designated strain do03(T), was isolated from the caecal content of a rat. Cells were Gram-positive, non-spore-forming rods. The results from a phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain do03(T) formed a separate line of descent in the phylogenetic cluster of the family Coriobacteriaceae. The strain was unable to metabolize glucose or other carbohydrates as sole carbon sources; growth was enhanced in the presence of arginine. The cell wall contained meso-diaminopimelic acid. The major fatty acid was C(18:1)cis9 (54.0%). The strain had one unidentified predominant (91.9%) quinone that was not menaquinone, methylmenaquinone, demethylmenaquinone, ubiquinone or rhodoquinone. The DNA G + C content was 63 mol%. The data presented in this work show that strain do03(T) differs from members of the related recognized genera Eggerthella and Denitrobacterium at both the phylogenetic and phenotypic level. Therefore, the strain constitutes a novel genus and species, for which the name Asaccharobacter celatus gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of the type species is do03(T) ( =JCM 14811(T) =DSM 18785(T) =AHU 1763(T)).