Pseudarcicella hirudinis gen. nov., sp nov., isolated from the skin of the medical leech Hirudo medicinalis

A pinkish-pigmented, Gram-stain-negative, rod-shaped, non-spore-forming bacterium, strain E92(T), was isolated from the skin of the medical leech Hirudo medicinalis, on R2A agar. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis of strain E92(T) showed a relatively low 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity (93.0-93.5%) to representatives of the genus Arcicella and 91.5-92.0% to members of the genus Flectobacillus. The polar lipid profile was composed of the major compounds phosphatidylethanolamine, an unidentified aminophospholipid, an unidentified aminolipid and an unidentified polar lipid; glycolipids were not detected. The major quinone was menquinone MK-7, and the major compound in the polyamine pattern was spermidine. The predominant fatty acids were C-16:1 omega 5c and C-16:1 omega 7c and/or iso-C-15:0 2-OH (detected as summed feature 3). The isolate did not contain C-14:0 or the hydroxyl fatty acid iso-C(17:0)3-OH found in all representatives of the genera Arcicella and Flectobacillus, but did produce C-18:1 omega 7c and 11-methyl C-18:1 omega 7c which are not found in these two genera. The DNA G+C content of strain E92(T) was 64.4 mol%. The unique 16S rRNA gene sequence, and specific chemotaxonomic and physiological data revealed that strain E92(T) represents a new genus in the family Cytophagaceae for which we propose the name Pseudarcicella hirudinis gen. nov., sp. nov., with the type strain of the type species as E92(T) (=LMG 26720(T)=CCM 7988(T)).