Bifidobacterium eulemuris sp nov., isolated from faeces of black lemurs (Eulemur macaco)

Forty-three strains of bifidobacteria were isolated from the faeces of two adult black lemurs, Eulemur macaco. Thirty-four were identified as Bifidobacterium lemurum, recently described in Lemur catta. The nine remaining isolates were Gram -positive -staining, non -spore -forming, fructose -6 -phosphate phosphoketolase-positive, microaerophilic, irregular rod -shaped bacteria that often presented Y- or V-shaped cells. Typing techniques revealed that these isolates were nearly identical, and strain LMM_E3(T) was chosen as a representative and characterized further. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences clustered this isolate inside the genus Bifidobacterium and showed the highest levels of sequence similarity with B. lemurum DSM 28807(T) (99.3%), with Bifidobacterium pullorum LMG 21816(T) and Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis ATCC 15697(T) (96.4 and 96.3%, respectively) as the next most similar strains. The hsp60 gene sequence of strain LMM_E3(T) showed the highest similarity to that of Bifidobacterium stellenboschense DSM 23968T (93.3%), and 91.0% similarity to that of the type strain of B. lemurum. DNA DNA reassociation with the closest neighbour B. lemurum DSM 28807(T) was found to be 65.4%. The DNA G+C content was 62.3 mol%. Strain LMM_E3T showed a peptidoglycan structure that has not been detected in bifidobacteria so far: A3a L-Lys L-Ser L-Thr L-Ala. Based on the phylogenetic, genotypic and phenotypic data, strain LMM_E3T represents a novel species within the genus Bifidobacterium, for which the name Bifidobacterium eulemuris sp. nov. is proposed; the type strain is LMM_E3(T) (=DSM 100216(T)=JCM 30801(T)).