Four strains isolated from Indian dairy products and initially identified as Lactobacillus delbrueckii could not be assigned to a definite subspecies because molecular identification and phenotypic traits did not agree with those of recognized subspecies of L. delbrueckii. Hybridization of total DNA (78-86 % against type strains of the other three subspecies), AFLP and RAPD-PCR fingerprints, phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences and sequence analysis of two coding genes (recA and hsp60), together with phenotypic profiles, indicated that the four strains form a coherent cluster and represent a novel subspecies, for which the name Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. indicus subsp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is NCC725 T (=LMG 22083 T =DSM 15996 T ).Lactobacillus delbrueckii is the type species of the genus Lactobacillus and comprises three subspecies, Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. delbrueckii, Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. lactis and Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus (Weiss et al., 1983). Strains belonging to the three subspecies show a high degree of DNA-DNA relatedness but can be differentiated on the basis of different phenotypic traits (Weiss et al., 1983;Kandler & Weiss, 1989).In a previous study regarding the evolutionary structure of the species L. delbrueckii (Germond et al., 2003), a number of lactobacilli originating from five dairy fermented products from India were analysed. Among those lactobacilli, four strains isolated from traditional Indian dairy fermented (type Dahi) products were identified as L. delbrueckii on the basis of molecular and phenotypic evidence, i.e. hybridization with a probe specific for L. delbrueckii, pY85 (Delley et al., 1990), typing based on digested genomic DNA probed with ribosomal or ISL7 sequences, specific PCR amplification and the exclusive production of D-lactate from lactose. However, they could not be assigned to one of the known subspecies of L. delbrueckii because they presented atypical characteristics such as the ability of L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus to degrade lactose constitutively, but no amplification of the gene encoding b-galactosidase using specific primers for L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and L. delbrueckii subsp. lactis.We report here the polyphasic analysis performed to define the taxonomic position of the four strains and describe a novel subspecies for L. delbrueckii.The bacterial strains NCC725 T , NCC665, NCC757 and NCC780 and the type strains of L. delbrueckii subsp. delbrueckii NCC621 T (=ATCC 9649 T =LMG 6412 T ), L. delbrueckii subsp. lactis NCC946 T (=ATCC 12315 T =LMG 7942 T ) and L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus NCC641 T (=ATCC 11842 T =LMG 6901 T ) were grown in de ManRogosa-Sharpe (MRS) or acidified MRS (pH 5?4) medium at 37 u C.Sugar metabolism was evaluated using the API-50CH detection kit. All strains tested fermented glucose, fructose and mannose. The ability to metabolize lactose distinguished the four strains from L. delbrueckii subsp. delbrueckii. These four strains can also be differenti...