Avibacterium endocarditidis sp. nov., isolated from valvular endocarditis in chickens

A novel species of the Pasteurellaceae, Avibacterium endocarditidis sp. nov., is proposed based upon characterization of 27 isolates from valvular endocarditis in adult broiler parents. All isolates shared the same PFGE type after digestion of DNA with SmaI and XbaI. In addition, all isolates meet the phenotypic characters for the genus Avibacterium. Separation of the novel species from other species of Avibacterium was possible by means of tests for catalase, symbiotic growth, aerobic growth on agar, acid production from glycerol, xylitol, (+)-L-arabinose, (-)-D-mannitol, (-)-D-sorbitol, (-)-L-fucose, (+)-D-galactose, maltose, trehalose, raffinose and dextrin in addition to reactions with ONPG (beta-galactosidase) and PNPG (alpha-glucosidase). The closest relationship was observed with Avibacterium gallinarum which, however, can be separated from Avibacterium endocarditidis in acid production from (-)-D-mannitol, (-)-D-sorbitol and (-)-L-fucose. The highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity (98.4 %) was found to strain Modesto, belonging to serogroup C of Avibacterium paragallinarum. recN gene DNA sequence similarities corrected by the formula of Zeigler (2003) (Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 53, 1893-1900) documented 85 % or less DNA sequence similarity between the type strain of Avibacterium endocarditidis and species of Avibacterium, confirming the separate species status of this taxon according to the multilocus sequence analysis method of Kuhnert & Korczak (2006) (Microbiology 152, 2537-2548). The type strain of Avibacterium endocarditidis sp. nov., strain 20186H4H1(T) (=CCUG 52860(T) =DSM 18224(T)), was isolated from valvular endocarditis of a chicken in Denmark in 2004.