Acinetobacter apis sp. nov., isolated from the intestinal tract of a honey bee,Apis mellifera

A novel Gram-negative, obligate aerobic, non-motile, and both coccobacillus- and bacillus-shaped bacterium, designated strain HYN18^T, was isolated from the intestinal tract of a honey bee (Apis mellifera). The isolate was oxidasenegative and catalase-positive. Strain HYN18^T showed optimum growth at 25°C, pH 6–7, and in the presence of 1% (w/v) NaCl in trypticase soy broth medium. The isolate was negative for hydrolyses of starch, casein, gelatin and urea, indole production from tryptone and hemolysis on sheep blood agar. A phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene and rpoB gene sequence showed that strain HYN18^T was most closely related to Acinetobacter nectaris SAP 763.2^T and A. boissieri SAP 284.1^T with 98.3% and 98.1% similarity (16S rRNA gene), respectively, and 84.4% similarity with Acinetobacter nectaris SAP 763.2^T (rpoB gene). The major cellular fatty acids were summed features 3 (comprising C_16:1ω7c /C_16:1ω6c ), C_12:0 and C_16:0. The main isoprenoid quinone was ubiquinone-9 (Q-9). The polar lipids of strain HYN18^T were phosphatidylethanolamine, three unidentified lipids, an unidentified phospholipid and an unidentified glycolipid. The DNA G+C content was 40.6 mol%. DNADNA hybridization experiments indicated less than 33 ± 10% relatedness to the closest phylogenetic species, Acinetobacter nectaris SAP 763.2^T. Thus, the phenotypic, phylogenetic and genotypic analyses indicate that strain HYN18^T is a novel species within the genus Acinetobacter, for which the name Acinetobacter apis is proposed. The type strain is HYN18^T (=KACC 16906^T =JCM 18575^T).