Sphingobacterium rhinopitheci sp. Nov., isolated from the faeces of Rhinopithecus bieti in China

A novel bacterium, WQ 047(T), was isolated from the faeces of Rhinopithecus bieti, a highly endangered primate endemic to China. The cells were aerobic, oval/rod-shaped, Gram-stain-negative, non-motile, catalase positive, and produced yellow pigmented colonies on Columbia Agar. The taxonomic position of WQ 047(T) was clarified by applying a polyphasic study based on 16S rRNA gene sequence phylogenetic analysis, extensive biological typing, and whole genome sequencing. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that stain WQ 047(T) belonged to the genus Sphingobacterium and its 16S rRNA gene sequence exhibited 96.47% pairwise similarity with that of the closest relatives Sphingobacterium nematocida M-SX103(T). The calculated whole genome average nucleotide identity (ANI) value between strain WQ 047(T) and strain M-SX103 was 72.3%. The digital DNA-DNA hybridization value of strain WQ 047(T) and M-SX103(T) was 15.73%, which was obtained by calculating the genome-to-genome distance. The major fatty acids were C-15:0 iso, C-17:0 iso 3-OH, Summed Feature 3 (C-16:1 omega 7c/C-16:1 omega 6c) and Summed feature 9 (iso-C-17:1 omega 9c and/or 10-methyl C-16:0). The predominant polar lipids were PE, PL and APL. MK-7 was the predominant menaquinone. The G + C content of WQ 047(T) was 34.89 mol% according to genome analysis. All these characteristics were consistent with those of the genus of Sphingobacterium. Therefore, based on these results, we propose a novel species for which the name Sphingobacterium rhinopitheci sp. Nov. is proposed, with the type strain WQ 047(T) (= CCTCC AA 2020026(T) = KCTC82393(T)).

Automated summary

A novel bacterium, WQ 047(T), was isolated from the faeces of Rhinopithecus bieti, a highly endangered primate endemic to China. Through phylogenetic analysis, biological typing, and whole genome sequencing, it was determined to belong to the genus Sphingobacterium, with a proposed new species name Sphingobacterium rhinopitheci sp. Nov.