A Gram-stain-negative bacterial strain, 10-17T, was isolated from traditional sourdough in Heilongjiang Province, China. The bacterium was characterized by a polyphasic approach, including 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, RNA polymerase β subunit (rpoB) gene sequence analysis, DNA gyrase (gyrB) gene sequence analysis, initiation translation factor 2 (infB) gene sequence analysis, ATP synthase β subunit (atpD) gene sequence analysis, fatty acid methyl ester analysis, determination of DNA G+C content, DNA–DNA hybridization and an analysis of phenotypic features. Strain 10-17T was phylogenetically related to Enterobacter hormaechei CIP 103441T, Enterobacter cancerogenus LMG 2693T, Enterobacter asburiae JCM 6051T, Enterobacter mori LMG 25706T, Enterobacter ludwigii EN-119T and Leclercia adecarboxylata LMG 2803T, having 99.5 %, 99.3 %, 98.7 %, 98.5 %, 98.4 % and 98.4 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, respectively. On the basis of polyphasic characterization data obtained in the present study, a novel species, Enterobacter xiangfangensis sp. nov., is proposed and the type strain is 10-17T ( = LMG 27195T = NCIMB 14836T = CCUG 62994T). Enterobacter sacchari Zhu et al. 2013 was reclassified as Kosakonia sacchari comb. nov. on the basis of 16S rRNA, rpoB, gyrB, infB and atpD gene sequence analysis and the type strain is strain SP1T( = CGMCC 1.12102T = LMG 26783T).

The development of the gut is controlled and modulated by different interacting mechanisms, such as genetic endowment, intrinsic biological regulatory functions, environment influences and last but no least, the diet influence. In this work, we compared the fecal microbiota of breast-fed (BF), formula-fed (FF), and mixed-fed (MF) infants from Hebei Province, China. By using high-throughput 16S rDNA sequencing analyses, we found some differences in gut microbiota in the three groups. Firmicutes and Proteobacteria were the dominant bacteria at the phylum level in the three groups, where FF infants showed a significant depletion in Bacteroidetes (p < 0.001) and Actinobacteria (p < 0.05). Enterobacteriaceae was the dominant bacteria at the family level in the three groups, but FF infants showed higher Enterobacteriaceae enrichment than BF and MF infants (p < 0.05); the abundance of the Bifidobacteriaceae was only 8.16% in the feces of BF infants, but higher than in MF and FF infants (p < 0.05). The number of genera detected (abundance >0.01%) in BF, MF, and FF infants was only 15, 16, and 13, respectively. This study could provide more accurate and scientific data for the future study of infant intestinal flora.

A Gram-stain-positive bacterial strain, S4-3 T , was isolated from traditional pickle in Heilongjiang Province, China. The bacterium was characterized by a polyphasic approach, including 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, pheS gene sequence analysis, rpoA gene sequence analysis, dnaK gene sequence analysis, fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) analysis, determination of DNA G+C content, DNA-DNA hybridization and an analysis of phenotypic features. Strain S4-3 T showed 97.9-98.7 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities, 84.4-94.1 % pheS gene sequence similarities and 94.4-96.9 % rpoA gene sequence similarities to the type strains of Lactobacillus nantensis, Lactobacillus mindensis, Lactobacillus crustorum, Lactobacillus futsaii, Lactobacillus farciminis and Lactobacillus kimchiensis. dnaK gene sequence similarities between S4-3 T and Lactobacillus nantensis LMG 23510 T , Lactobacillus mindensis LMG 21932 T , Lactobacillus crustorum LMG 23699 T , Lactobacillus futsaii JCM 17355 T and Lactobacillus farciminis LMG 9200 T were 95.4, 91.5, 90.4, 91.7 and 93.1 %, respectively. Based upon the data obtained in the present study, a novel species, Lactobacillus heilongjiangensis sp. nov., is proposed and the type strain is S4-3 T (5LMG 26166 T 5NCIMB 14701 T ).Pickle is rich in lactic acid bacteria (LAB). In recent years, many novel LAB species and subspecies have been isolated from pickle, such as Lactobacillus senmaizukei (Hiraga et al., et al., 2012). In the present study, a Gram-stain-positive bacterial strain, S4-3 T , was isolated from traditional pickle in Heilongjiang Province, China. The bacterium was characterized by a polyphasic approach. The strains used in this study are listed in Table 1. All strains were incubated aerobically at 30 u C on mMRS medium (pH 6.2-6.4) consisting of 0.5 % peptone, 0.5 % meat extract, 1 % tryptone, 0.5 % yeast extract, 1 % glucose, 0.1 % Tween 80, 0.2 % K 2 HPO 4 . 3H 2 O, 0.5 % sodium acetate anhydrous, 0.2 % diammonium hydrogen citrate, 0.025 % MnSO 4 . H 2 O and 0.01 % MgSO 4 . 7H 2 O.

Three Gram-stain-positive bacterial strains, 11050T, 7-19T and 11102T, were isolated from traditional pickle and sourdough in Heilongjiang Province, China. These bacteria were characterized by a polyphasic approach, including 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, pheS gene sequence analysis, rpoA gene sequence analysis, dnaK gene sequence analysis, fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) analysis, determination of DNA G+C content, DNA–DNA hybridization and an analysis of phenotypic features. Strain 11050T belonged to the Lactobacillus plantarum species group and shared 98.0–98.4 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities and 84.7–88.9 % dnaK gene sequence similarities with type strains of Lactobacillus plantarum subsp. plantarum , Lactobacillus plantarum subsp. argentoratensis , Lactobacillus pentosus , Lactobacillus paraplantarum , Lactobacillus fabifermentans and Lactobacillus xiangfangensis and had 75.9–80.7 % pheS gene sequence similarities and 90.7–92.5 % rpoA gene sequence similarities with Lactobacillus plantarum subsp. plantarum LMG 6907T, Lactobacillus plantarum subsp. argentoratensis LMG 9205, Lactobacillus pentosus LMG 10755T, Lactobacillus paraplantarum LMG 16673T, Lactobacillus fabifermentans LMG 24284T and Lactobacillus xiangfangensis 3.1.1T, respectively. Strain 7-19T was phylogenetically related to Lactobacillus thailandensis , Lactobacillus pantheris and Lactobacillus sharpeae , having 94.1–96.7 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities, 71.5–82.3 % pheS gene sequence similarities and 71.2–83.4 % rpoA gene sequence similarities with type strains of Lactobacillus thailandensis , Lactobacillus pantheris and Lactobacillus sharpeae , respectively. Strain 11102T was phylogenetically related to Lactobacillus oligofermentans , Lactobacillus suebicus , Lactobacillus vaccinostercus and Lactobacillus hokkaidonensis . Strain 11102T had 99.2 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, 81.3 % pheS gene sequence similarity and 96.1 % rpoA gene sequence similarity with Lactobacillus oligofermentans LMG 22743T, respectively. Strain 11102T shared 96.0–96.8 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities, 73.3–81.0 % pheS gene sequence similarities and 74.6–76.9 % rpoA gene sequence similarities with type strains of Lactobacillus suebicus , Lactobacillus vaccinostercus and Lactobacillus hokkaidonensis , respectively. Based upon the data from polyphasic characterization obtained in the present study, three novel species, Lactobacillus mudanjiangensis sp. nov., Lactobacillus songhuajiangensis sp. nov. and Lactobacillus nenjiangensis sp. nov., are proposed and the type strains are 11050T ( = LMG 27194T = CCUG 62991T), 7-19T ( = LMG 27191T = NCIMB 14832T = CCUG 62990T) and 11102T ( = LMG 27192T = NCIMB 14833T), respectively.

Strains LMG 8159 and LMG 11499 were reclassified by a polyphasic approach, including 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, 16S-23S rRNA intergenic spacer (IGS) sequence analysis, (GTG) 5 -PCR fingerprinting, RAPD fingerprinting, fatty acid methyl ester analysis and an analysis of phenotypic features using API 50 CH. The two strains were closely related to the type strains of the three defined subspecies of Leuconostoc mesenteroides, showing 99.7-99.9 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, 99.2 % 16S-23S rRNA gene intergenic spacer sequence similarity, 97.1-97.4 % pheS gene sequence similarity and 98.0-98.2 % rpoA gene sequence similarity. Low atpA gene sequence similarity (91.4-91.7 %), (GTG) 5 -PCR fingerprinting, RAPD fingerprinting, fatty acid compositions and phenotypic features allowed us to differentiate strains LMG 8159 and LMG 11499 from all established subspecies within L. mesenteroides. Based upon the data obtained in the present and previous studies, a novel subspecies is proposed within the species L. mesenteroides, Leuconostoc mesenteroides subsp. suionicum subsp. nov., with the type strain LMG 8159 T (5ATCC 9135 T 5DSM 20241 T 5NCIMB 6992 T ).