title: Reclassification of Lactobacillus kefirgranum Takizawa et al. 1994 as Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens subsp. kefirgranum subsp. nov. and emended description of L. kefiranofaciens Fujisawa et al. 1988.
abstract: Fourteen homofermentative lactic acid bacteria that were isolated from kefir grains and kefir fermented milks were assigned to either Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens or Lactobacillus kefirgranum, based on their characteristic morphotypes, phenotypic features and SDS-PAGE profiles of whole-cell proteins. Further genotypic analyses on representative strains from both taxa demonstrated that L. kefiranofaciens and L. kefirgranum share 100 % 16S rDNA sequence similarity and belong phylogenetically to the Lactobacillus acidophilus species group. DNA-DNA binding values of >79 % and analogous DNA G+C contents of 37-38 mol% showed that the strains studied belonged to one species: L. kefirgranum is a later synonym of L. kefiranofaciens. An emended description is proposed for L. kefiranofaciens. Due to the specific morphological and biochemical characteristics of these taxa in kefir grain formation, it is proposed that L. kefirgranum should be reclassified as L. kefiranofaciens subsp. kefirgranum subsp. nov.
authors.affiliation: BCCM/LMG Bacteria Collection, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vancanneyt
authors.affiliation: DANONE Vitapole, Vitavaleur, Palaiseau, France.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mengaud
authors.affiliation: BCCM/LMG Bacteria Collection, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Cleenwerck
authors.affiliation: BCCM/LMG Bacteria Collection, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Vanhonacker
authors.affiliation: BCCM/LMG Bacteria Collection, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hoste
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Microbiology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dawyndt
authors.affiliation: DANONE Vitapole, Vitavaleur, Palaiseau, France.
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Degivry
authors.affiliation: DANONE Vitapole, Vitavaleur, Palaiseau, France.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ringuet
authors.affiliation: BCCM/LMG Bacteria Collection, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Janssens
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Microbiology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.|BCCM/LMG Bacteria Collection, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Swings
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000235:genetics; D002523:Edible Grain / Q000382:microbiology; D005285:Fermentation; D019344:Lactic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D007778:Lactobacillus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology; D008892:Milk / Q000382:microbiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012329:RNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D012329:RNA, Bacterial; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D019344:Lactic Acid