Ottowia testudinis sp. nov., isolated from the cloaca of a giant Asian pond turtle (Heosemys grandis)

A bacterial strain designated 27C(T) isolated from the cloaca of a giant Asian pond turtle was subjected to polyphasic taxonomic characterization. The strain was Gram-stain negative and oxidase- and catalase-positive. It had highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity to Ottowia beijingensis GCS-AN-3(T) (97.6%) and Ottowia flava GY511(T) 96.0% and less than 96.0% to other established species including Ramlibacter rhizophilus YS3.2.7(T), Ottowia konkukae SK3863(T), Acidovorax caeni E-24608(T) and Ottowia thiooxydans DSM 14619(T). Phylogenetically, strain 27C(T) formed a branch with O. beijingensis GCS-AN-3(T) within the Ottowia clade. The genome size was 4.32 Mbp and the G+C content was 65.7 mol%. Strain 27C(T) shared highest ANIb values with O. beijingensis GCS-AN-3(T) (82.71/82.73 %) followed by O. oryzae KADR8-3(T) (78.9/ 79.0%) and O. caeni BD-1(T) (73.3/ 75.2%). The diagnostic diamino acid of the peptidoglycan was meso-diaminopimelic acid and the quinone system was ubiquinone Q-8. Predominant compounds in the polar lipid profile were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylmonomethylethanolamine. Major polyamines were 2-hydroxyputrescine and putrescine. In the fatty acid profile, summed feature 3 (C-16:1 omega 7c and/or C-16:1 omega 6c), C-16:0, summed feature 8 (C-18:1 omega 7c and/or C-18:1 omega 6c), C-14: 0, C-10:0 3-OH and C-16:0 2-OH were detected. All these data identify strain 27C(T) as representing a novel species of the genus Ottowia and hence we propose the name Ottowia testudinis sp. nov. The type strain is 27C(T) (=CCM 9138(T)=LMG 32213(T)).

Automated summary

In this study, a new bacterial strain was isolated from the cloaca of a giant Asian pond turtle and was named Ottowia testudinis sp. nov. It showed low similarity to established Ottowia species, indicating that it represents a novel species within the genus.