Proposal of Corynebacterium propinquum sp. nov. for Corynebacterium group ANF-3 strains

Abstract Chemotaxonomic and genomic studies were performed on seven Corynebacterium group ANF-3 strains isolated from human sources. All these strains possess cell wall component type IV ( meso -diaminopimelic acid, arabinose and galactose), corynemycolic acids and a G+C content of DNA of 57 to 59 mol%. These results confirm that they can be placed in the genus Corynebacterium . Six of these strains were found to constitute a tight hybridization group distinct from named Corynebacterium species or related organisms. This genomic group constitutes a new species which can be identified within the genus Corynebacterium by ribotyping or phenotypic tests and for which the name Corynebacterium propinquum is proposed. The type strain is strain B 77159 (= Collection of the Institut Pasteur CIP 103792).