Neisseria weixii sp. nov., isolated from rectal contents of Tibetan Plateau pika (Ochotona curzoniae).

ABSTRACT

Three independent isolates (10022T, 10 009 and 10011) of a novel catalase-positive, Gram-stain-negative coccus in the genus Neisseria were obtained from the rectal contents of plateau pika on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, PR China. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, our newly identified organisms were most closely related to Neisseria iguanae, Neisseria flavescens and Neisseria perflava with similarities ranging from 98.02 to 98.45 %, followed by seven other species in the genus Neisseria. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA and rplF genes showed that our three novel isolates group with members of the genus Neisseria. Results of the average nucleotide identity (ANI) analysis confirmed that our isolates are of the same species, and the ANI values between type strain 10022T and other Neisseria species are 74.12-85.06 %, lower than the threshold range of 95-96 %. The major cellular fatty acids for our novel species are C16  0 and C161ω7c/C161ω6c, which along with their phenotypic characteristics can distinguish our isolates from other Neisseria species. On the basis of polyphasic analyses, our isolates are proposed to represent a novel species in genus Neisseria, with the name Neisseria weixii sp. nov. The type strain is 10022T (=DSM 103441T=CGMCC 1.15732T).