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Nocardia donostiensis sp. nov., isolated from human respiratory specimens

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Abstract

Three human clinical isolates (X1654, X1655, and W9944) were recovered from the sputum and bronchial washings of two patients with pulmonary infections. The 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis of the isolates showed that they share 100 % sequence similarity with each other and belong to the genus Nocardia. Close phylogenetic neighbours are Nocardia brevicatena ATCC 15333T (98.6 %) and Nocardia paucivorans ATCC BAA-278T (98.4 %). The in silico DNA–DNA relatedness between the isolates ranges from 96.8 to 100 % suggesting that they belong to the same genomic species. The DNA–DNA relatedness between X1654 and N. brevicatena ATCC 15333T is 13.3 ± 2.3 % and N. paucivorans ATCC BAA-278T is 18.95 ± 1.1 % suggesting that they do not belong to the same genomic species. Believed to represent a novel species, these isolates were further characterised to establish their taxonomic standing within the genus. Chemotaxonomic data for isolate X1654 are consistent with those described for the genus Nocardia: this isolate produced saturated and unsaturated fatty acids, tuberculostearic acid (15.9 %), the major menaquinone was MK-8 (H4cyclic), mycolic acid chain lengths ranged from 38 to 58 carbons, produced meso-diaminopimelic acid with arabinose, glucose, and galactose as the whole cell sugars. The polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylinositol, and phosphatidylinositol mannosides. The DNA G+C content is 66.7 mol  %. Based on the combination of phenotypic, chemotaxonomic, and genotypic data for X1654, X1655, and W9944, we conclude that these isolates represent a novel species within the genus Nocardia for which we propose the name Nocardia donostiensis sp. nov. with X1654T (=DSM 46814T = CECT 8839T) as the type strain.

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Acknowledgments

To DSMZ for the wet -lab DDHS and Julian Larruskain MD, for his invaluable earlier work on Nocardia in our Microbiology Department at University Hospital Donostia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Medicine, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, San Sebastián, Spain

    Maria Ercibengoa & Emilio Pérez-Trallero

  2. Biomedical Research Center Network for Respiratory Diseases (CIBERES), Madrid, Spain

    Maria Ercibengoa, José Maria Marimón & Emilio Pérez-Trallero

  3. Special Bacteriology Reference Laboratory, Bacterial Special Pathogens Branch, Division of High-Consequence Pathogens and Pathology, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Disease, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, 30333, USA

    Melissa Bell & Benjamin Humrighouse

  4. Hospital Universitario Donostia-Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Biodonostia, San Sebastián, Spain

    José Maria Marimón & Emilio Pérez-Trallero

  5. Head of School, School of Biology, Newcastle University, Ridley Building 2, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK

    Hans-Peter Klenk

  6. Leibniz-Institute DSMZ-German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures, 38124, Brunswick, Germany

    Gabrielle Pötter

  7. Servicio de Microbiología, Hospital Universitario Donostia, Paseo Dr. Beguiristain s/n, 20014, San Sebastián, Spain

    Maria Ercibengoa

  8. Microbiology Department, University Hospital Donostia, Donostia, Spain

    Maria Ercibengoa, José Maria Marimón & Emilio Pérez-Trallero

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  1. Maria Ercibengoa
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  2. Melissa Bell
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  3. José Maria Marimón
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  4. Benjamin Humrighouse
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  5. Hans-Peter Klenk
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  6. Gabrielle Pötter
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  7. Emilio Pérez-Trallero
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Correspondence to Maria Ercibengoa.

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Ercibengoa, M., Bell, M., Marimón, J.M. et al. Nocardia donostiensis sp. nov., isolated from human respiratory specimens. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 109, 653–660 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10482-016-0667-8

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