title: Porphyromonas uenonis sp. nov., a pathogen for humans distinct from P. asaccharolytica and P. endodontalis.
abstract: Three Porphyromonas species (Porphyromonas asaccharolytica, P. endodontalis, and the novel species that is the subject of the present report, P. uenonis) are very much alike in terms of biochemical characteristics, such as enzyme profiles and cellular fatty acid contents. P. asaccharolytica is distinguished from the other two species by virtue of production of alpha-fucosidase and glyoxylic acid positivity. The novel species is difficult to differentiate from P. endodontalis phenotypically and was designated a P. endodontalis-like organism for some time. However, P. endodontalis is recovered almost exclusively from oral sources and also grows poorly on Biolog Universal Agar, both characteristics that are in contrast to those of the other two organisms. Furthermore, P. uenonis is glycerol positive in the Biolog AN Microplate system. Both P. asaccharolytica and P. uenonis are positive by 13 other tests in the Biolog system, whereas P. endodontalis is negative by all of these tests. P. asaccharolytica grew well in both solid and liquid media without supplementation with 5% horse serum, whereas the other two species grew poorly without supplementation. Sequencing of 16S rRNA revealed about 10% divergence between the novel species and P. endodontalis but less than 2% sequence difference between the novel species and P. asaccharolytica. Subsequent DNA-DNA hybridization studies documented that the novel organism was indeed distinct from P. asaccharolytica. We propose the name Porphyromonas uenonis for the novel species. We have recovered P. uenonis from four clinical infections in adults, all likely of intestinal origin, and from the feces of six children.
authors.affiliation: Infectious Diseases Section, Veterans Affairs Medical Center West Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90073, USA. sidfinegol@aol.com
authors.forename: Sydney M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Finegold
authors.forename: Marja-Liisa
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Vaisanen
authors.forename: Merja
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rautio
authors.forename: Erkki
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Eerola
authors.forename: Paula
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Summanen
authors.forename: Denise
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Molitoris
authors.forename: Yuli
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Chengxu
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Hannele
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jousimies-Somer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D016866:Bacteroidaceae Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D002648:Child; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology*; D006801:Humans; D007422:Intestines / Q000382:microbiology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D017861:Porphyromonas / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D045202:Porphyromonas endodontalis / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S