Alloscardovia theropitheci sp. nov., isolated from the faeces of gelada baboon, the 'bleeding heart' monkey (Theropithecus gelada)

A novel irregularly shaped and slightly curved rod bacterial strain, GLDI4/2(T), showing activity of fructose 6-phosphate phosphoketolase was isolated from a faecal sample of an adult gelada baboon (Theropithecus gelada). Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA genes as well as multilocus sequences (representing fusA, gyrB and xfp genes) and the core genome revealed that GLDI4/2(T) exhibited phylogenetic relatedness to Alloscardovia omnicolens DSM 21503(T) and to Alloscardovia macacae DSM 24762(T). Comparative analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences confirmed the phylogenetic results showing the highest gene sequence identity with strain A. omnicolens DSM 21503(T) (96.0 %). Activities of alpha- and beta-gluco(galacto)sidases were detected in strain GLDI4/2(T), which is characteristic for almost all members of the family Bifidobacteriaceae. Compared to other Alloscardovia species its DNA G+C content (43.8 mol%) was very low. Phylogenetic studies and the evaluation of phenotypic characteristics, including the results of biochemical, physiological and chemotaxonomic analyses, confirmed the novel species status for strain GLDI4/2(T), for which the name Alloscardovia theropitheci sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is GLDI4/2(T) (=DSM 106019(T) =JCM 32430(T)).