Phenotypic and genomic characteristics of Brevibacterium zhoupengii sp. nov., a novel halotolerant actinomycete isolated from bat feces

Abstract

Two strictly aerobic, Gram-staining-positive, non-spore-forming, regular rod-shaped (approximately 0.7 × 1.9 mm) bacteria (HY170 T and HY001) were isolated from bat feces collected from Chongzuo city, Guangxi province (22°20′54″N, 106°49′20″E, July 2011) and Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan province (25°09′10″N, 102°04′39″E, October 2013) of South China, respectively. Optimal growth is obtained at 25–28°C (range, 4–32°C) on BHI-5% sheep blood plate with pH 7.5 (range, 5.0–10.0) in the presence of 0.5–1.0% NaCl (w/v) (range, 0–15% NaCl [w/v]). The phylogenetic and phylogenomic trees based respectively on the 16S rRNA gene and 845 core gene sequences revealed that the two strains formed a distinct lineage within the genus Brevibacterium , most closely related to B. aurantiacum NCDO 739 T (16S rRNA similarity, both 98.5%; dDDH, 46.7–46.8%; ANI, 91.9–92.1%). Strain HY170 T contained MK-8(H 2 ), diphosphatidylglycerol (DPG) and phosphatidylglycerol (PG), galactose and ribose as the predominant menaquinone, major polar lipids, and main sugars in the cell wall teichoic acids, respectively. The meso-diaminopimelic acid ( meso -DAP) was the diagnostic diamino acid of the peptidoglycan found in strain HY170 T . Anteiso -C 15:0 and anteiso -C 17:0 were the major fatty acids (> 10%) of strains HY170 T and HY001, with anteiso -C 17:1 A predominant in strain HY170 T but absent in strain HY001. Mining the genomes revealed the presence of secondary metabolite biosynthesis gene clusters encoding for non-alpha poly-amino acids (NAPAA), ectoine, siderophore, and terpene. Based on results from the phylogenetic, chemotaxonomic and phenotypic analyses, the two strains could be classified as a novel species of the genus Brevibacterium , for which the name Brevibacterium zhoupengii sp. nov. is proposed (type strain HY170 T = CGMCC 1.18600 T = JCM 34230 T ). Supplemental material for this article may be found at 10.1007/s12275-022-2134-8.

Morphological and genomic characteristics of two novel actinomycetes, Ornithinimicrobium sufpigmenti sp. nov. and Ornithinimicrobium faecis sp. nov. isolated from bat faeces (Rousettus leschenaultia and Taphozous perforates)

“…Our laboratory has investigated the intestinal and fecal flora of bats since 2018 to identify potentially pathogenic microbial species and dissect the process of disease transmission ( Huang et al., 2022c ). So far, we have published over ten new species of bacteria isolated from bat feces, among which Brevibacterium zhoupengii ( Huang et al., 2022a ), Microbacterium fandaimingii ( Zhou et al., 2021 ), Gordonia zhenghanii , G. liuliyuniae ( Huang et al., 2022b ), Tomitella gaofuii and T. fengzijianii ( Huang et al., 2022d ) belong to the phylum Actinobacteria. As previously described, actinomycete bacteria are highly prevalent in Rousettus leschenaultia and Taphozous perforates through traditional isolation methods.…”

“…We are curious if bat fecal samples contain any novel bacteria alongside the viruses and parasites. Interestingly, some novel bacterial species previously isolated from feces of the Rousettus leschenaultia and/or Taphozous perforates in our laboratory belong to the phylum Actinobacteria, such as Brevibacterium zhoupengii ( Huang et al., 2022a ), Microbacterium fandaimingii ( Zhou et al., 2021 ), Tomitella gaofuii and T. fengzijianii ( Huang et al., 2022d ). In the present study, we continue to explore bat fecal microbiota and describe the phenotypic and genomic characterization of a novel species in the genus Ornithinimicrobium belonging to phylum Actinobacteria.…”

“…The phenotypic and physiological tests were similar to our previously described ( Huang et al., 2022a ). Bacterial growth test was determined at a range of temperatures (4, 10, 15, 20, 25, 28, 30, 35, 37, 40, and 45°C) in BHI broth for 7 days.…”

“…In addition, the species of bats have been identified as Rousettus leschenaultia and Taphozous perforates by blasting the cytochrome b gene sequence (Huang et al, 2022c). Sample collection, transportation and storage were almost like what was delineate antecedently (Ge et al, 2012;Huang et al, 2022a). Briefly, the clean plastic sheets (around 4 square meters) were placed under known bat roosting sites in their natural habitat (usually caves) at approximately six o'clock in the afternoon, and the fecal samples were collected from the sheets in the next morning (approximately 6:00 am) and placed into sterile tubes.…”