Staphylococcus dromedarii sp. nov., isolated from dromedary (Camelus dromedarius)

Five bacterial strains of a novel coagulase-negative Staphylococcus species were isolated from healthy dromedaries and investigated in a polyphasic taxonomic approach. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences placed all five strains on a distinct cluster closely related to Staphylococcus muscae (99.74%), Staphylococcus americanisciuri (99.73%), Staphylococcus rostri (99.65%) and Staphylococcus microti (99.46%). Whole-genome sequence analysis as well as multilocus sequence analysis confirmed the clustering of the five strains and separated them from the closest related Staphylococcus species. Average nucleotide identity was >99% between strains and <85% to any other Staphylococcus species, while digital DNA-DNA hybridization values were >95% and <55%, respectively. The DNA G+C content was 36.2-36.4 mol%. Major fatty acids were iso-C_15 : 0 (61.6%), anteiso-C_15 : 0 (17.2%) and iso-C_17 : 0 (6.7%), while the major respiratory quinone was menaquinone-7 (96.7%). The polar lipid profile consisted of diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, glycophospholipid, glycolipid, phospholipid and an unknown lipid. The peptidoglycan type was A3αl-Lys-Gly_3-4 (type A11.2). Biochemical markers based on classical as well as commercial identification schemes allowed separation from closely related Staphylococcus species. In addition, matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry spectra of the five strains were significantly different from closely related species, allowing rapid identification of the new taxon for which we propose the novel species Staphylococcus dromedarii sp. nov. The type strain is IVB6240^T (=ILRI248^T=DSM 115024^T=CCUG 76602^T) isolated from the nose of a healthy male dromedary calf in Kenya in 2014.