Neisseria chenwenguii sp. nov. isolated from the rectal contents of a plateau pika (Ochotona curzoniae)

Two Gram-stain negative, catalase positive, coccus shaped bacteria, designated 10023(T) and 10010, were isolated from the rectal contents of a plateau pika (Ochotona curzoniae) in Qinghai–Tibet Plateau, China. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, phylogenetic trees showed that these two isolates (10023(T), 10010) group with members of the genus Neisseria. Additionally, these two isolates exhibited high 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with Neisseria zalophi CSL 7565(T) (96.98%), Neisseria wadsworthii WC 05-9715(T) (96.92%) and Neisseria canis ATCC 14687(T) (96.79%). Further phylogenetic analysis based on the rplF gene showed that these two novel strains can be easily discriminated from phylogenetically closely related species. Optimal growth was found to occur on BHI agar with 5% defibrinated sheep blood at 37 °C and growth was also observed on nutrient agar, Columbia blood agar and chocolate agar plates; however, growth was not observed on MacConkey agar after 7 days. The major cellular fatty acids of these strains were identified as C(16:0) and C(16:1)ω7c/C(16:1)ω6c. The complete genome size of the type strain 10023(T) is 2,496,444 bp, with DNA G+C content of 54.0 mol %. The average nucleotide identity values were 73.5–79.3% between isolate 10023(T) and reference Neisseria spp. Based on polyphasic analysis, these isolates (10023(T) and 10010) are considered to represent a novel species in the genus Neisseria, for which the name Neisseria chenwenguii sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is 10023(T) (= DSM 103440(T) = CGMCC 1.15736(T)). ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s10482-019-01234-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.