Faecalicoccus acidiformans gen. nov., sp. nov., isolated from the chicken caecum, and reclassification of Streptococcus pleomorphus (Barnes et al. 1977), Eubacterium biforme (Eggerth 1935) and Eubacterium cylindroides (Cato et al. 1974) as Faecalicoccus pleomorphus comb. nov., Holdemanella biformis gen. nov., comb. nov. and Faecalitalea cylindroides gen. nov., comb. nov., respectively, within the family Erysipelotrichaceae.

ABSTRACT

Strains LMG 27428(T) and LMG 27427 were isolated from the caecal content of a chicken and produced butyric, lactic and formic acids as major metabolic end products. The genomic DNA G+C contents of strains LMG 27428(T) and LMG 27427 were 40.4 and 38.8 mol%. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, both strains were most closely related to the generically misclassified Streptococcus pleomorphus ATCC 29734(T). Strain LMG 27428(T) could be distinguished from S. pleomorphus ATCC 29734(T) based on production of more lactic acid and less formic acid in M2GSC medium, a higher DNA G+C content and the absence of activities of acid phosphatase and leucine, arginine, leucyl glycine, pyroglutamic acid, glycine and histidine arylamidases, while strain LMG 27428 was biochemically indistinguishable from S. pleomorphus ATCC 29734(T). The novel genus Faecalicoccus gen. nov. within the family Erysipelotrichaceae is proposed to accommodate strains LMG 27428(T) and LMG 27427. Strain LMG 27428(T) ( =DSM 26963(T)) is the type strain of Faecalicoccus acidiformans sp. nov., and strain LMG 27427 ( =DSM 26962) is a strain of Faecalicoccus pleomorphus comb. nov. (type strain LMG 17756(T) =ATCC 29734(T) =DSM 20574(T)). Furthermore, the nearest phylogenetic neighbours of the genus Faecalicoccus are the generically misclassified Eubacterium cylindroides DSM 3983(T) (94.4% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity to strain LMG 27428(T)) and Eubacterium biforme DSM 3989(T) (92.7% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity to strain LMG 27428(T)). We present genotypic and phenotypic data that allow the differentiation of each of these taxa and propose to reclassify these generically misnamed species of the genus Eubacterium formally as Faecalitalea cylindroides gen. nov., comb. nov. and Holdemanella biformis gen. nov., comb. nov., respectively. The type strain of Faecalitalea cylindroides is DSM 3983(T) =ATCC 27803(T) =JCM 10261(T) and that of Holdemanella biformis is DSM 3989(T) =ATCC 27806(T) =CCUG 28091(T).