Bifidobacterium. eulemuris sp. nov. isolated from the faeces of the black lemur (Eulemur macaco)

Forty strains of bifidobacteria were isolated from the faeces of two adult subjects of black lemur, Eulemur macaco. Twenty-five were identified as Bifidobacterium lemurum, the novel species recently described in Lemur catta. All other isolates resulted Gram-positive-staining, non-spore-forming, fructose-6-phosphate phosphoketolase positive, microaerophilic, irregular rod-shaped bacteria that often resembled Y or V shapes cells. Typing techniques revealed these isolates were nearly identical and strain LMM_E3T was chosen as representative and characterized further. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences clustered this isolate inside the genus Bifidobacterium and showed the highest levels of sequence similarities with Bifidobacterium lemurum DSM 28807T (99.6%), with Bifidobacterium pullorum LMG 21816T and Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis ATCC 15697T (96.4 % and 96.3%, respectively). Analysis of hsp60 gene sequences revealed that strain LMM_E3T was also closely related to Bifidobacterium stellenboschense DSM 23968T (93.3%). DNA-DNA reassociation value with the closest neighbour B. lemurum DSM 28807T was found to be 65.4%. The DNA base composition was 62.3 mol% G+C. Strain LMM_E3T showed a peptidoglycan structure which has not been detected in bifidobacteria so far: A3α L-Lys - L-Ser - L-Thr - L-Ala. Based on the phylogenetic, genotypic and phenotypic data, strain LMM_E3 T represents a novel species within the genus Bifidobacterium for which the name Bifidobacterium eulemuris sp. nov. is now proposed; the type strain is LMM_E3T (=DSM 100216T; = JCM 30801T).