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Howardella ureilytica gen. nov., sp. nov., a Gram-positive, coccoid-shaped bacterium from a sheep rumen

Anthony R. Cook¹, Paul W. Riley¹, Heather Murdoch^1,, Paul N. Evans² and Ian R. McDonald³

¹ Health Protection Agency, Centre for Emergency Preparedness and Response, Porton Down, Salisbury SP4 0JG, UK
² Rumen Biotechnology, AgResearch, Grasslands Research Centre, Private Bag 11008, Palmerston North 4442, New Zealand
³ Department of Biological Sciences, University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton 3240, New Zealand

Correspondence
Paul W. Riley
paul.riley{at}hpa.org.uk

An unidentified obligately anaerobic, fastidious, Gram-positive, non-motile, non-spore-forming, non-fermentative coccoid-shaped bacterium (designated strain GPC 589^T) was isolated from the rumen fluid of a sheep. The major fatty acid constituents (>5 %) were C_{16 : 0} (29.2 %), C_{18 : 0} (40.7 %) and an unidentified compound (19.7 %) with an equivalent chain-length of 13.523. The G+C content of the DNA was 34 mol%. The organism was strongly ureolytic and generated ATP through the hydrolysis of urea. Comparative 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis demonstrated that strain GPC 589^T was far removed, phylogenetically, from the ruminococci and related Gram-positive anaerobic cocci but exhibited a phylogenetic association with Clostridium rRNA cluster XIVa [as defined by Collins, M. D., Lawson, P. A., Willems, A., Cordoba, J. J., Fernandez-Garayzabal, J., Garcia, P., Cai, J., Hippe, H. & Farrow, J. A. E. (1994). Int J Syst Bacteriol 44, 812–826]. Sequence divergence values of 12.5 % or more were observed between strain GPC 589^T and all other recognized species within this and related rRNA clostridial clusters. Phylogenetic analysis showed that strain GPC 589^T represents a new genus within cluster XIVa. On the basis of both phylogenetic and phenotypic evidence, it is proposed that strain GPC 589^T should be classified as representing a new genus and novel species, Howardella ureilytica gen. nov., sp. nov. The type strain is strain GPC 589^T (=DSM 15118^T=JCM 13267^T).

Present address: Infection Control Team, Health Protection Scotland, 1 Cadogan Square, Cadogan Street, Glasgow G2 7HF, UK.

The GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ accession number for the 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain GPC 589^T is DQ925472.