Description of Corynebacterium trachiae sp. nov., isolated from a white stork (Ciconia ciconia)

A Gram-stain-positive bacterial isolate, strain 280/10(T) was isolated from the trachea of a white stork. The isolate was morphologically rod- to coccoid-shaped, non-motile and showed no oxidase activity. The highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity was found to the type strain of Corynebacterium ciconiae (97.3 % similarity) as the nearest relative of strain 280/10(T), all other 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities to type strains of species of the genus Corynebacterium were below 94.2 %. Strain 280/10(T) had a quinone system consisting predominantly of menaquinone MK-8(H2), minor quantities of MK-9(H2) and small amounts of MK-8. The diamino acid of the peptidoglycan was meso-diaminopimelic acid. The major compounds in the polar lipid profiles were diphosphatidylglycerol, phoshatidylglycerol, phosphatidylinositol and an acidic glycolipid. Two phosphatidylinositol-mannosides and several unidentified lipids were also present. The strain contained corynemycolic acids, while only small amounts of cellular polyamines were detected. Spermidine and spermine were predominant in the polyamine pattern of 280/10(T) and putrescine was present in moderate amounts. In the fatty acid profile C18 : 1ω9c, and C16 : 0 were predominant. The strain was distinguishable from C. ciconiae, which is the most closely related species. In conclusion, strain 280/10(T) is proposed to represent a novel species of the genus Corynebacterium with the name Corynebacterium trachiae sp. nov. and the type strain 280/10(T) ( = CIP 110796(T) = LMG 28214(T)).