title: Niabella hirudinis and Niabella drilacis sp. nov., isolated from the medicinal leech Hirudo verbana.
abstract: Two Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacteria, strains E96(T) and E90(T), were isolated from medicinal leeches (Hirudo verbana) and characterized by a polyphasic taxonomic approach. Phylogenetic analysis based on the nearly full-length 16S rRNA gene sequence showed that the two strains shared 98.1% sequence similarity and were affiliated with the genus Niabella within the phylum Bacteroidetes, with 94.4-97.6% sequence similarity to type strains of species of the genus Niabella and highest sequence similarity to the type strain of Niabella aurantiaca (97.3 and 97.6%, respectively). Niabella-related 16S rRNA gene sequences were recently detected in the bladders of Hirudo verbana; however, no cultured representatives were so far available. Genomic fingerprint analysis using repetitive element primed (rep)- and randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD)-PCRs and DNA-DNA hybridization experiments clearly showed that the strains were different from each other (DNA-DNA relatedness values of 39.1%, reciprocal 28.0%) and from the type strains of N. aurantiaca (<19.7%) and Niabella tibetensis (<41.1%). Chemotaxonomic analyses confirmed the affiliation to the genus Niabella. Both strains contained MK-7 as the predominant menaquinone. The major fatty acids of both strains were iso-C15:0, iso-C15:1 G, iso-C17:0 3-OH and summed feature 3 (C16:1ω7c and/or iso-C15:0 2-OH), which is characteristic for the genus Niabella. Based on genotypic, chemotaxonomic and physiological characterization, we propose two novel species of the genus Niabella, Niabella hirudinis sp. nov., with strain E96(T) ( =DSM 25812(T) =CCM 8411(T) =LMG 26956(T)) as the type strain, and Niabella drilacis sp. nov., with strain E90(T) ( =DSM 25811(T) =CCM 8410(T) =LMG 26954(T)) as the type strain.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Angewandte Mikrobiologie, Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen, D-35392 Giessen, Germany.
authors.forename: Stefanie P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Glaeser
authors.affiliation: Biebertaler Blutegelzucht, D-35444 Biebertal, Germany.
authors.forename: Harald
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Galatis
authors.affiliation: Leibniz-Institut für Naturstoff-Forschung und Infektionsbiologie e.V., Hans-Knöll-Institut, D-07745 Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.affiliation: Institut für Angewandte Mikrobiologie, Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen, D-35392 Giessen, Germany.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kämpfer
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D041963:Bacteroidetes / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000032:analysis; D047709:Hirudo medicinalis / Q000382:microbiology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D010802:Phylogeny; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D019105:Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Technique; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D024482:Vitamin K 2 / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D005227:Fatty Acids; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D024482:Vitamin K 2; C062629:menaquinone 7