A polyphasic taxonomic study was performed on two Gram-positive-staining, anaerobic, pleomorphic, rod-shaped strains isolated from human bone and tissue samples. Sequencing of the 16S rRNA genes revealed that the strains belong to a novel species within the genus Propionibacterium, most closely related to Propionibacterium acnes subsp. acnes and Propionibacterium acnes subsp. elongatum with similarity values of 98.4 % and 98.1 %, respectively. In addition, protein-coding genes for rpoB, recA and gyrB clearly separated the novel organism from all species and subspecies of the genus Propionibacterium. However, a DNA-DNA hybridization analysis between the novel organism and the type strain P. acnes ATCC 6919T revealed a value of only 61.1 %. Furthermore, whole genome analysis using the program OrthoANI gave a value of 88.5 %, which is significantly below the cut-off value of 95 % for species delineation. The major fatty acids were iso-C 15 : 0 , anteiso-C 15 : 0 and iso-C 17 : 0 . The DNA G+C content of the type strain was 59.7 mol%. When taken collectively, phenotypic, molecular genetic, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic information demonstrate that the organism represents a distinct, albeit close relative of P. acnes On the basis of the results presented, the organism represents a novel member of the genus Propionibacterium for which the name Propionibacterium namnetense sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is NTS 31307302Pathogenesis of bone and joint infections (BJI) is explained by the growth of microorganisms in biofilms and microcolonies, making these infections difficult to diagnose, eradicate and treat (Zimmerli et al., 2004). Staphylococci are involved in 50 to 60 % of BJI cases (Corvec et al., 2012), and members of the genus Propionibacterium are also †These authors contributed equally to this work Abbreviation: MALDI-TOF, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight.
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