title: Description of Tersicoccus phoenicis gen. nov., sp. nov. isolated from spacecraft assembly clean room environments.
abstract: Two strains of aerobic, non-motile, Gram-reaction-positive cocci were independently isolated from geographically distinct spacecraft assembly clean room facilities (Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA and Centre Spatial Guyanais, Kourou, French Guiana). A polyphasic study was carried out to delineate the taxonomic identity of these two isolates (1P05MA(T) and KO_PS43). The 16S rRNA gene sequences exhibited a high similarity when compared to each other (100 %) and lower than 96.7 % relatedness with Arthrobacter crystallopoietes ATCC 15481(T), Arthrobacter luteolus ATCC BAA-272(T), Arthrobacter tumbae DSM 16406(T) and Arthrobacter subterraneus DSM 17585(T). In contrast with previously described Arthrobacter species, the novel isolates maintained their coccidal morphology throughout their growth and did not exhibit the rod-coccus life cycle typically observed in nearly all Arthrobacter species, except A. agilis. The distinct taxonomic identity of the novel isolates was confirmed based on their unique cell-wall peptidoglycan type (A.11.20; Lys-Ser-Ala2) and polar lipid profile (presence of phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylinositol, an unknown phospholipid and two unknown glycolipids). The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 70.6 mol%. The novel strains revealed MK-9(H2) and MK-8(H2) as dominant menaquinones and exhibited fatty acid profiles consisting of major amounts of anteiso-C15 : 0 and anteiso-C17 : 0 and moderate amounts of iso-C15 : 0 discriminating them again from closely related Arthrobacter species. Based on these observations, the authors propose that strains 1P05MA(T) and KO_PS43 be assigned into a separate genus Tersicoccus gen. nov. For this new taxon, comprising strains 1P05MA(T) and KO_PS43, we propose the name Tersicoccus phoenicis gen. nov., sp. nov. (the type species of Tersicoccus), represented by the type strain Tersicoccus phoenicis 1P05MA(T) ( = NRRL B-59547(T) = DSM 30849(T)).
authors.affiliation: Biotechnology and Planetary Protection Group, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.
authors.forename: Parag
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vaishampayan
authors.affiliation: Institute for Microbiology and Archaea Center, University of Regensburg, Universitaetsstr. 31, 93053 Regensburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Moissl-Eichinger
authors.affiliation: Leibniz-Institute DSMZ - German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures, Inhoffenstr. 7B, D-38124 Braunschweig, Germany.
authors.forename: Rüdiger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pukall
authors.affiliation: Leibniz-Institute DSMZ - German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures, Inhoffenstr. 7B, D-38124 Braunschweig, Germany.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Schumann
authors.affiliation: Leibniz-Institute DSMZ - German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures, Inhoffenstr. 7B, D-38124 Braunschweig, Germany.
authors.forename: Cathrin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Spröer
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, California State University Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90032, USA.
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Augustus
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, California State University Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90032, USA.
authors.forename: Anne Hayden
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, California State University Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90032, USA.
authors.forename: Greg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Namba
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, California State University Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90032, USA.
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cisneros
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, California State University Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90032, USA.
authors.forename: Tina
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Salmassi
authors.affiliation: Biotechnology and Planetary Protection Group, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.
authors.forename: Kasthuri
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Venkateswaran
mesh_terms: D001173:Arthrobacter / Q000145:classification; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D001482:Base Composition; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D004780:Environment, Controlled; D004783:Environmental Microbiology; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000032:analysis; D005431:Florida; D005616:French Guiana; D008835:Micrococcaceae / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010457:Peptidoglycan / Q000032:analysis; D010743:Phospholipids / Q000032:analysis; D010802:Phylogeny; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D018531:Spacecraft; D024482:Vitamin K 2 / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D005227:Fatty Acids; D010457:Peptidoglycan; D010743:Phospholipids; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D024482:Vitamin K 2; C024223:vitamin MK 8; C073355:menaquinone 9