Akiko Kageyama

Re-evaluation of the taxonomic position of strain K-252^T, which produces the compound K-252a, showed that the strain does not belong to the genus Nocardiopsis suggested previously. Strain K-252^T formed aerial mycelia with long spore chains, and hyphal fragmentation was not observed. The cell wall chemotype of the strain was lll/B, the major menaquinone was MK-9 (III, VIII-H₄), the phospholipid pattern was PIV and the major cellular fatty acids were 10Me-C_17:0, iso-C_16:0 and C_16:0. Phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA sequence showed that strain K-252^T was clustered in the Nonomuraea group. Furthermore, on the basis of DNA-DNA reassociation and phenotypic data, strain K-252^T (= NRRL 15532^T) was classified as a new species of the genus Nonomuraea. This strain is proposed as Nonomuraea longicatena sp. nov.

The 16S rRNA primary structure of Eubacterium fossor was determined by sequencing in vitro amplified rDNA. Sequence comparisons indicated that E. fossor has a specific phylogenetic association with the Atopobium species and is far from E. limosum, the type species of the genus Eubacterium. Phenotypic characters of E. fossor resemble those of the genus Atopobium. Therefore, we propose that E. fossor should be transferred to the genus Atopobium as Atopobium fossor comb. nov.

Three strains of Eubacterium aerofacien, JCM 10188T, JCM 7790 and JCM 7791, and 178 freshly isolated strains of the Eubacterium aerofaciens group from human faeces were characterized by biochemical tests, cell wall peptidoglycan type and 16S rRNA analysis. The Eubacterium aerofaciens group was divided into four groups by fermentation patterns of sucrose and cellobiose, and were further divided into 16 sub-groups by fermentation patterns of aesculin, salicin and amygdalin. All of the strains of the Eubacterium aerofaciens group were shown to be phylogenetically distantly related to Eubacterium limosum, which is the type species of genus Eubacterium. Eubacterium aerofaciens was shown to have a specific phylogenetic association with Coriobacterium glomerans. All the strains belonging to Eubacterium aerofaciens resembled Coriobacterium glomerans in possessing a high G + C content (60 mol%). Cell wall analysis, however, revealed the presence of different A4 beta (L-Ala)-D-Glu-L-Orn-L-Asp peptidoglycan types. Based on a 16S rRNA sequence divergence of greater than 9% with Coriobacterium glomerans and the presence of a unique peptidoglycan type, a new genus, Collinsella, is proposed for Eubacterium aerofaciens, with one species, Collinsella aerofaciens. The type strain of Collinsella aerofaciens is JCM 10188T.