Alloscardovia macacae sp. nov., isolated from the milk of a macaque (Macaca mulatta), emended description of the genus Alloscardovia and proposal of Alloscardovia criceti comb. nov.

A novel bacterial strain, designated M8(T), was isolated from milk of a female macaque bred in captivity. The strain was Gram-stain-positive, anaerobic, irregular coccoid-rod-shaped without catalase activity. Analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity revealed that the isolate was most closely related to Alloscardovia omnicolens CCUG 31649(T) (96.4%) and Metascardovia criceti OMB105(T) (96.6%). Sequences of hsp60, fusA, and xfp genes also confirmed that the strain was most closely related to the type strains of A. omnicolens and M. criceti. The isolate produced fructose-6-phosphate phosphoketolase which is in agreement with classification within the family Bifidobacteriaceae. The major fatty acids were C18 : 1ω9c (35.8%), C16 : 1 (6.2 %) and C14 : 0 (5.7 %). Polar lipid analysis revealed five different glycolipids, two unidentified phospholipids and diphosphatidylglycerol. The peptidoglycan was of the type A4α l-Lys-d-Asp with the presence of d(l)-alanine, d-glutamine, d-asparagine and l-lysine. The DNA G+C content of strain M8(T) was 50.1 mol%. On the basis of genetic, phylogenetic and phenotypic data, strain M8(T) represents a novel species of the genus Alloscardovia for which the name Alloscardovia macacae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is M8(T) ( = DSM 24762(T) = CCM 7944(T)). In addition, our results also revealed that Alloscardovia omnicolens DSM 21503(T) and Metascardovia criceti DSM 17774(T) do not belong to different genera within the family Bifidobacteriaceae. We therefore propose to reclassify Metascardovia criceti as Alloscardovia criceti comb. nov. An emended description of the genus Alloscardovia is also provided.

The ciliate, Troglodytella abrassarti, contributes to polysaccharide hydrolytic activities in the chimpanzee colon.

Entodiniomorphid ciliates are intestinal protists inhabiting the colons of African great apes. The participation of intestinal entodiniomorphid ciliates in ape hindgut digestion has been proposed, but little data have been available to support the hypothesis. We measured the specific activities of carboxymethyl cellulase, xylanase, inulinase, and α-amylase against different polysaccharides in the feces of captive chimpanzees and evaluated the participation of the entodiniomorphid ciliate, Troglodytella abrassarti, in these activities. T. abrassarti contributed to the total fecal hydrolytic activities of CM-cellulase by 16.2%, α-amylase by 5.95%, and xylanase by 0.66%. Inulinase activity in T. abrassarti samples was not measurable at reaction conditions used. The ciliates, T. abrassarti, actively participate in the chimpanzee hindgut fermentation of fiber and starch.