Intestinirhabdus alba gen. nov., sp. nov., a novel genus of the family Enterobacteriaceae, isolated from the gut of plastic-eating larvae of the Coleoptera insect Zophobas atratus

A bacterial strain, BIT-B35(T), was isolated from the gut of plastic-eating larvae of the Coleoptera insect Zophobas atratus. Its taxonomic position was determined by using a polyphasic approach. Cells were white-pigmented, Gram-stain-negative, motile short rods with terminal flagella. The 16S rRNA gene sequence (1411 bp) of strain BIT-B35(T) showed highest similarity (98.1%) to Escherichia fergusonii ATCC 35469(T) and Citrobacter koseri LMG 5519(T). The results of phylogenetic analyses, based on the 16S rRNA gene, concatenated sequences of seven housekeeping genes (atpD, gyrB, infB, rpoB, pyrG, fusA and leuS) and genome sequences, placed strain BIT-B35(T) in a separate lineage among the family of Enterobacteriaceae . The major fatty acids were C-16:0, C-17:0 cyclo and C-19:0 cyclo omega 8c. The genomic DNA G+C content of strain BIT-B35(T) was 57.1 mol%. The chemotaxonomic data plus results of physiological and biochemical tests also distinguished strain BIT-B35(T) from members of other genera within the family Enterobacteriaceae . Therefore, strain BIT-B35(T) is considered to represent a novel species of a novel genus within the family Enterobacteriaceae , for which the name Intestinirhabdus alba gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is BIT-B35(T) (=CGMCC 1.17042(T)=KCTC 72448(T)).