Characterization of four novel members of genus Streptococcus from wild animals: description of Streptococcus handemini sp. nov., Streptococcus jiangjianxini sp. nov., Streptococcus tangpeifui sp. nov. and Streptococcus huangxiaojuni sp. nov.

Four novel strain pairs (ZJ93 T /ZJ100, ZJ151 T /ZJ99, ZJ1593 T /ZJ373 and H31 T /H49) were isolated from the respiratory tracts of marmots and the faeces of white-lipped deer. All eight isolates were facultatively anaerobic, oxidase- and catalase-negative, non-spore-forming, non-motile and Gram-stain-positive cocci in short and long chains. Analyses of the 16S rRNA gene and genome sequences revealed that the eight strains represent four novel species of the genus Streptococcus . The 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that strain ZJ93 T had the highest similarity to Streptococcus marmotae HTS5 T (98.23%), ZJ151 T to Streptococcus halotolerans HTS9 T (98.18%), ZJ1593 T to Streptococcus criceti HS-6 T (96.77%) and H31 T to Streptococcus pantholopis TA 26 T (98.25%). The values of digital DNA–DNA hybridization between the four novel species and their phylogenetically related type strains of the genus Streptococcus were far below 70% , but higher than 70% within each pair of novel strains (ZJ93 T /ZJ100, ZJ151 T /ZJ99, ZJ1593 T /ZJ373 and H31 T /H49). The DNA G+C contents of ZJ93 T , ZJ151 T , ZJ1593 T and H31 T were 41.0, 39.0, 41.5 and 41.5 mol%, respectively. The main cellular fatty acid of all eight strains was C 16 : 0 . Based on the results from the aforementioned analyses, the eight novel strains were classified as representing four novel species of genus Streptococcus , for which the names Streptococcus handemini sp. nov. [type strain ZJ93 T (=GDMCC 1.3112 T =JCM 35325 T )], Streptococcus jiangjianxini sp. nov. [type strain ZJ151 T (=GDMCC 1.3116 T =JCM 35326 T )], Streptococcus tangpeifui sp. nov. [type strain ZJ1593 T (=GDMCC 1.3115 T =JCM 35327 T )] and Streptococcus huangxiaojuni sp. nov. [type strain H31 T (=GDMCC 1.4758 T =JCM 37397 T )] are proposed, respectively.