Campylobacter fetus subsp. testudinum subsp. nov., isolated from humans and reptiles

A polyphasic study was undertaken to determine the taxonomic position of 13 Campylobacter fetus-like strains from humans (n=8) and reptiles (n=5). The results of matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) MS and genomic data from sap analysis, 16S rRNA gene and hsp60 sequence comparison, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, amplified fragment length polymorphism analysis, DNA-DNA hybridization and whole genome sequencing demonstrated that these strains are closely related to C. fetus but clearly differentiated from recognized subspecies of C. fetus. Therefore, this unique cluster of 13 strains represents a novel subspecies within the species C. fetus, for which the name Campylobacter fetus subsp. testudinum subsp. nov. is proposed, with strain 03-427(T) (=ATCC BAA-2539(T)=LMG 27499(T)) as the type strain. Although this novel taxon could not be differentiated from C. fetus subsp. fetus and C. fetus subsp. venerealis using conventional phenotypic tests, MALDI-TOF MS revealed the presence of multiple phenotypic biomarkers which distinguish Campylobacter fetus subsp. testudinum subsp. nov. from recognized subspecies of C. fetus.