title: Staphylococcus succinus sp. nov., isolated from Dominican amber.
abstract: Two bacterial isolates, designated AMG-D1T and AMG-D2, were recovered from 25-35-million-year-old Dominican amber. AMG-D1T and AMG-D2 biochemically most closely resemble Staphylococcus xylosus; they differ physiologically from other staphylococci. Fatty acid analysis and comparisons with extensive databases were unable to show relatedness to any specific taxon. Moreover, AMG-D1T and AMG-D2 contain tuberculostearic acid and meso-diaminopimelic acid, characteristic of the G + C-rich coryneform bacteria, as opposed to L-lysine characteristic of staphylococci. AMG-D1T and AMG-D2 have a G + C ratio of 35 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis with the 16S rRNA gene indicated that AMG-D1T and AMG-D2 were most closely related to Staphylococcus equorum, S. xylosus, Staphylococcus saprophyticus and other novobiocin-resistant staphylococci. Stringent DNA-DNA hybridization studies with AMG-D1T revealed similarities of 38% with S. equorum, 23% with S. xylosus and 6% with S. saprophyticus. The results indicate that AMG-D1T and AMG-D2 represent a novel species, which was named Staphylococcus succinus sp. nov. The type strain of the new species is AMG-D1 (ATCC 700337).
authors.affiliation: XOMA Corporation, Berkeley, CA 94710, USA.
authors.forename: L H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Lambert
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Cox
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mitchell
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Rosselló-Mora
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Del Cueto
authors.forename: D E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Dodge
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Orkand
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Cano
mesh_terms: D018647:Amber; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D001482:Base Composition; D001483:Base Sequence; D002473:Cell Wall; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis; D019424:Dominica; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000032:analysis; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D013210:Staphylococcus / Q000145:classification* / Q000187:drug effects / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000648:ultrastructure
chemical_list: D018647:Amber; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D005227:Fatty Acids