International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology (2016), 66, 1652–1659 DOI 10.1099/ijsem.0.

000922

Caviibacter abscessus gen. nov., sp. nov.,

a member of the family Leptotrichiaceae isolated
from guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus)
Tobias Eisenberg,1 Stefanie P. Glaeser,2 Christa Ewers,3
Torsten Semmler,4 Birgit Drescher5 and Peter Kämpfer2
1
Correspondence Landesbetrieb Hessisches Landeslabor, D-35392 Giessen, Germany
Tobias Eisenberg 2
Institut für Angewandte Mikrobiologie, Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen, D-35392 Giessen, Germany
tobias.eisenberg@lhl.hessen.de
3
Institut für Hygiene und Infektionskrankheiten der Tiere, Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen,
D-35392 Giessen, Germany
4
Robert Koch-Institut, D-13353 Berlin, Germany
5
Kleintierpraxis Dr. Drescher, D-70599 Stuttgart, Germany

A pleomorphic, Gram-stain-negative, rod-shaped, indole-, oxidase- and catalase-negative,

non-spore-forming, non-motile bacterium was originally isolated from the mandibular lymph node of
a guinea pig and deposited as Streptobacillus moniliformis CCUG 39713 in 1998. A second
strain, 151011837, was isolated from an identical lesion in a guinea pig in Germany in 2015.
On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence analyses, these strains displayed highest sequence
similarities with Sneathia sanguinegens NTS65407T (93.4 %) and ‘Sneathia amnii’ Sn35 (93.2 %),
followed by Streptobacillus moniliformis DSM 12112T (91.3 %), ‘Streptobacillus ratti’ OGS16
(91.2 %), Streptobacillus notomytis AHL370-1T (91.0 %), Streptobacillus hongkongensis HKU33T
(90.9 %) and Streptobacillus felis 131000547T (90.9 %). Levels of sequence similarity with all
other members of the family Leptotrichiaceae were ,89 %. Results of phylogenetic analyses of
strains CCUG 39713T and 151011837, based on gyrB, groEL and recA nucleotide and deduced
amino acid sequences, were highly similar, as the topologies of all trees were virtually identical.
DNA relatedness values derived from average nucleotide identities calculated for comparisons
between strain CCUG 39713T and the type strains of Sneathia sanguinegens and Streptobacillus
moniliformis, respectively, were 72.05 and 70.42 %. The genomes of CCUG39713T and
151011837 shared 99.57 % average nucletide identity. The chemotaxonomic and physiological
data for strains CCUG 39713T and 151011837 were in congruence with other closely related
members of the family Leptotrichiaceae, with highly similar enzyme activities and fatty acid profiles.
Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight MS analysis was capable of clearly
discriminating strains CCUG 39713T and 151011837 from all taxa of the family Leptotrichiaceae
with validly published names. On the basis of these data, the novel taxon Caviibacter abscessus
gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of Caviibacter abscessus is CCUG 39713T
(5DSM 101949T); 151011837 (DSM 101950) is an additional strain of the species.

Cervical lymph node abscess formation and granulomatous

Abbreviations: ANI, average nucleotide identity; MALDI-TOF MS, pneumonia in guinea pigs are historically associated with
matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight MS. Streptobacillus moniliformis, a neither well-known nor
The GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ accession numbers for the complete
well-recognized micro-organism, but which is known to
genome sequences of Sneathia sanguinegens CCUG 41628T, and cause the bacterial zoonosis rat bite fever and Haverhill
strains CCUG 39713T and 151011837 all belong to BioProject fever in humans (Aldred et al., 1974; Boot et al., 2007;
PRJNA305231 and are SAMN04320708, SAMN04320709 and Elliott, 2007; Fleming, 1976; Kirchner et al., 1992; Smith,
SAMN04320710, respectively. Accession numbers of other gene 1941). Abscess formation is a sporadically observed clinical
sequences generated within this study are summarized in Table S1. disease entity of Streptobacillus moniliformis that is reported
Five supplementary figures and two supplementary tables are available for humans, rats and mice (Addidle et al., 2012; Pins et al.,
with the online Supplementary Material. 1996; Rohde et al., 2008; Wullenweber et al., 1990).
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Interestingly, all reports of cervical lymph node abscess
formation in guinea pigs state anaerobic growth character-
istics for the causative organism, whereas members of the
genus Streptobacillus depend on capnophilic growth with
few exceptions (Eisenberg et al., 2015a, b). Furthermore,
resistance of guinea pigs to Streptobacillus moniliformis
infection has been demostrated with a rat strain (Boot
et al., 2007). Conversely, a genus established in 2001,
Sneathia, consists of Sneathia sanguinegens [formerly
‘Leptotrichia sanguinegens’ (Hanff et al., 1995)], a mono-
typic species (Collins et al., 2001). A second species associ-
ated with intrauterine fetal demise that was initially
described as ‘Leptotrichia amnionii’ (Shukla et al., 2002)
has – based on molecular data – been allocated to the
genus Sneathia (Harwich et al., 2012). However, ‘Sneathia
amnii’ has – in default of a deposited type strain – not
been listed as a species with a validly published name.
The fastidiously and strictly anaerobically growing species
of the genus Sneathia can be part of the normal microbiota
in human genital tracts, but have also been found to be
potential pathogens in bacterial vaginosis and obstetric
complications such as intra-amniotic infections or cases
of post-partum and neonatal bacteraemia (De Martino
et al., 2004; Kacerovsky et al., 2015; Wang et al., 2013).
Likewise, a positive correlation between species of the
genus Sneathia and venereal infections such as caused by
HIV and HPV and so cervical cancer was postulated
(Lee et al., 2013; Mitchell et al., 2013; Nawrot et al.,
2010; Spear et al., 2008). More recently, it was shown
that species of the genus Sneathia have the potential to
cause infections outside the reproductive tract due to
their involvement in a case of septic arthritis (Bachy
et al., 2011). Sequences associated with the genus Sneathia
have also occasionally been reported as genital microbiota
in cows and macaques (Hu et al., 2015; Jeon et al., 2015;
Machado et al., 2012; Spear et al., 2012).
Different growth characteristics, as well as preliminary
molecular data, cast doubt over whether respective
micro-organisms from guinea pigs are indeed affiliated to
the genera Streptobacillus or Sneathia. Based on remarkable
DNA heterogeneity, our data suggest that strains CCUG
39713T and 151011837 would be better assigned to a
further novel genus of the family Leptotrichiaceae and the
strains are the subject of the present description.
Strain CCUG 39713T was originally isolated from the man-
dibular lymph node of a guinea pig in 1998 and deposited
by V. Båverud, SVA, Uppsala, Sweden, as Streptobacillus
moniliformis in the Culture Collection, University of
Göteborg, Sweden. Strain 151011837 was isolated as a
pure culture from an identical lesion in a guinea pig in
Germany in 2015. Strains CCUG 39713T and 151011837
grew exclusively after 3–5 days of incubation at 37 8C
under an obligate anaerobic atmosphere [N2/H2/CO2
(85 : 5 : 10 by vol.)] in evacuation jars [(Anoxomat
AN2CTS; Mart); non-pre-reduced growth media] on tryp-
tone soy agar (TSA; Oxoid) supplemented with 20 % (v/v)
horse serum or Columbia agar with 5 % (v/v) sheep blood
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Caviibacter abscessus gen. nov., sp. nov.
(SBA; Oxoid) and very weakly on chocolate blood agar
supplemented with vitamin K and haemin (Oxoid).
On these agars, strains CCUG 39713T and 151011837
also grew very weakly at 30 8C, but not at 15, 43 or
50 8C. The strains could also be cultivated on Schaedler
agar and SBA supplemented with nalidixic acid and colis-
tin, as well as in liquid media [tryptone soy bouillon
(TSB), brain heart infusion and peptone broth, sup-
plemented with 20 % (v/v) cattle or horse serum] but not
on Gassner or MacConkey agar (all Oxoid). Growth was
very fastidious and colonies were tiny, dry and butyraceous.
Gram-staining was performed according to the Hucker
method as described previously (Gerhardt et al., 1994).
Cell morphological features were observed under a Leitz Dia-
plan light microscope at 10006 magnification, with cells
grown for 3 days at 37 8C on TSA. Gram staining revealed
irregular Gram-stain-negative, pleomorphic, fusiform to
filamentous, non-spore-forming, non-encapsulated, non-
acid-fast rods, which were arranged in chains and clumps,
sometimes displaying irregular, lateral bulbar swellings.
A single rod-shaped cell was approximately 0.47¡0.2 mm
wide and 0.92¡0.1 mm long.
For phylogenetic analysis, genomic DNA was extracted
from a bacterial culture with a commercial kit according
to the manufacturer’s instructions (MasterPure Complete
DNA and RNA Purification kit; Epicentre) and subjected
to whole genome sequencing. De novo assembly was
performed with CLC Genomics Workbench, Version 7.5
(CLC Bio). For automatic annotation we used the RAST
Server: Rapid Annotations using Subsystems Technology
(Aziz et al., 2008). Annotated gene sequences were
imported into MEGA 5.2.2 (Tamura et al., 2011) and aligned
with relevant reference sequences obtained from the
GenBank database (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) using
the CLUSTAL W (Thompson et al., 1994) alignment tool in
MEGA 5.2.2 with default parameters. For calculation of
phylogenetic trees, based on nearly full-length 16S rRNA
gene sequences, the maximum-likelihood method based
on the Tamura–Nei model (Tamura & Nei, 1993) with
a discrete Gamma-distribution (+G) with five rate
categories and by assuming that a certain fraction of sides
are evolutionarily invariable (+I) was used. Correspond-
ingly, maximum-parsimony algorithms implemented in
MEGA 5.2.2 with Subtree-Pruning-Regrafting (Nei &
Kumar, 2000) were also calculated and assessed. Tree node
reliability was examined by bootstrap analysis using 100
resamplings for each tree. Phylogenetic trees were based on
1247 nt (Fig. 1) and 1257 nt positions (Fig. S1, available in
the online Supplementary Material), respectively, and 16S
rRNA gene sequences between sequence termini 9 and
1566 [numbering according to the Escherichia coli rRNA
sequence (Brosius et al., 1978)].
The sequenced 16S rRNA gene fragments of strains CCUG
39713T and 151011837 represent an almost continuous
stretch of 1483 unambiguous nucleotides between sequence
positions 8 and 1522 [E. coli numbering (Brosius et al.,
1978)].
1653
T. Eisenberg and others

81 Streptobacillus moniliformis DSM 12112T [CP001779]

81 Streptobacillus notomytis AHL 370-1T [KR001919]
100 ‘Streptobacillus ratti’ OGS16 [KR001922]
0.05 93 Streptobacillus felis 131000547T [HG421076]
Streptobacillus hongkongensis HKU33T [JQ087399]
100
100 ‘Sneathia amnii’ Sn35 [CP011280]
Sneathia sanguinegens NTS65407T [HM567404]
100 Caviibacter abscessus CCUG 39713T [SAMN04320709]
100 Caviibacter abscessus 151011837 [SAMN04320710]
Leptotrichia goodfellowii LB 57T [NR025649]
71 Leptotrichia buccalis DSM 1135T [NR074440]
86 Leptotrichia hofstadii LB 23T [NR025647]

100 Leptotrichia shahii LB 37T [NR025648]

Leptotrichia wadei LB 16T [NR036844]
89
Leptotrichia trevisanii LB 06T [AY029805]
77 Leptotrichia hongkongensis HKU24T [EU919515]
Sebaldella termitidis ATCC 33386T [NR074413]
Fusobacterium nucleatum subsp. nucleatum ATCC 25586T [NR074412]

Fig. 1. Maximum-likelihood tree showing the phylogenetic position of Caviibacter abscessus gen. nov., sp. nov. within the
family Leptotrichiaceae. The tree was generated in MEGA 5.2.2 based on the Tamura–Nei model (Tamura & Nei, 1993) with a
discrete Gamma-distribution (+G) with five rate categories and by assuming that a certain fraction of sides are evolutionarily
invariable (+I). The tree is based on 1247 nt positions and 16S rRNA gene sequences between sequence termini 9 and
1566 [numbering according to the E. coli rRNA gene sequence (Brosius, et al., 1978)]. GenBank/EMBK/DDBJ accession
numbers are given in parentheses. Numbers at branch nodes refer to bootstrap values .70 % (100 replicates). Fusobacter-
ium nucleatum subsp. nucleatum ATCC 25586T was used as outgroup. Bar, 0.05 nt substitutions per site.

16S rRNA gene sequence analysis clearly supports the
affiliation of strains CCUG 39713T and 151011837 to the
family Leptotrichiaceae (Figs 1 & S1). They shared highest
16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with an unpublished
bacterium assigned to the family Leptotrichiaceae, UTK
MI 14-3285, (KR612328; 99.9 %) from a cervical abscess
in a guinea pig from North America, followed by uncul-
tured Eubacterium clone E1-K6 from a corneal ulcer
(AJ289183; 94.6 %) (Schabereiter-Gurtner et al., 2002),
Sneathia sanguinegens CCUG 41628T (93.4 %), ‘Sneathia
amnii’ Sn35 (93.2 %), Streptobacillus moniliformis DSM
12112T (91.3 %), ‘Streptobacillus ratti’ OGS16 (91.2 %),
Streptobacillus notomytis AHL370-1T (91.0 %), Strepto-
bacillus hongkongensis HKU33T (90.9 %) and Streptobacil-
lus felis 131000547T (90.9 %). Sequence similarities to all
other taxa were below 89 %. Independently of the treeing
method, strains CCUG 39713T and 151011837 formed a
monophyletic cluster (with 100 % bootstrap support)
next to Sneathia sanguinegens CCUG 41628T and ‘Sneathia
amnii’ Sn35 (Figs 1 & S1) and were also clearly separated
from the genera Streptobacillus, Sebaldella and Leptotrichia.
PCR assays, designed for the detection of Streptobacillus
moniliformis and recently found to be genus- rather than
species-specific, did not yield an amplicon for strains
CCUG 39713T and 151011837 (Eisenberg et al., 2015a;
Kimura et al., 2008; Rohde et al., 2008). Interestingly,
an observed interference by an alleged Streptobacillus
moniliformis-specific PCR gave positive results for guinea
pig samples and amplicon sequencing revealed a species
of the genus Leptotrichia (Boot et al., 2008) whose sequence
is clearly different from those of strains CCUG 39713T and
151011837 (Fig. S1).
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For further clarification of the phylogenetic relationship of
strains CCUG 39713T and 151011837 to other members of
the family Leptotrichiaceae phylogenetic analyses based on
both partial nucleotide and the deduced amino acid
sequences of gyrB, groEL and recA genes were performed
also to determine non-synonymous substitutions (Glaeser
& Kämpfer, 2015). Respective nucleotide and amino acid
sequences were aligned using CLUSTAL W (Thompson
et al., 1994) implemented in MEGA 5.2.2 (Tamura et al.,
2011) as described above. Pairwise sequence similarities
were calculated based on p-distances (calculated without
an evolutionary model). The Jones–Thornton–Taylor
model [JTT (Jones et al., 1992)] + G + I was employed
for amino acid sequences. All trees were based on 100
replications (bootstrap analysis).
Phylogenetic trees, based on partial nucleotide and more
conserved deduced amino acid sequences of gyrB, groEL
and recA, showed the formation of monophyletic clusters
for strains CCUG 39713T and 151011837 in all trees.
Both strains clustered (with high bootstrap support)
most closely, but in a distinct branch to Sneathia sanguine-
gens CCUG 41628T and ‘Sneathia amnii’ Sn35, and also
separated from all species of the genus Streptobacillus
(Figs S2–S4). In addition, the nucleotide and deduced
amino acid sequence similarities were always considerably
lower between strains CCUG 39713T and 151011837 and
strains of species of the genera Sneathia, Streptobacillus,
Sebaldella and Leptotrichia (Table S2), thereby clearly
indicating the genetic distinction of strains CCUG 39713T
and 151011837.
The evaluation of average nucleotide identity (ANI) has
proven to be expressive for species delineation of species
International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology 66
 Caviibacter abscessus gen. nov., sp. nov.

of the genus Streptobacillus (Eisenberg et al., 2015a, b, Table 1. Physiological characteristics of strains CCUG
2016) and superior to DNA–DNA hybridization (DDH) 39713T and 151011837 and the type strains of Sneathia
(Eisenberg et al., 2015a, b). It was carried out according sanguinegens and Streptobacillus moniliformis
to the method described by Goris et al. (2007). ANI
Strains: 1, CCUG 39713T; 2, 151011837; 3, Sneathia sanguinegens
between strain CCUG 39713T and Sneathia sanguinegens
CCUG 41628T; 4, Streptobacillus moniliformis DSM 12112T.
CCUG 41628T (SAMN04320708) and Streptobacillus
+, Positive; 2, negative. API Zym (bioMeriéux) score values 0–5
moniliformis DSM 12112T (CP001779) was 72.05 and
indicate the strength of enzymic intensity [here 0–2, negative result
70.42 %, respectively, and thereby significantly below the
(2); 3, weak result (W ); 4–5, positive result (+)].
proposed cut-off for a species boundary of 95–96 % ANI
(Richter & Rosselló-Móra, 2009). The same was true for
Characteristic 1 2 3 4
a comparison of strain CCUG 39713T with the genomes
of further selected type strains of species of the genera Classical reactions
Streptobacillus, Leptotrichia and Sebaldella, in that ANI Haemolysis on SBA 2 2 2 2
values between CCUG 39713T and ‘Sneathia amnii’ Sn35 VITEK2-compact NHI card
(CP011280), Streptobacillus felis 131000547T [BioProject Phosphatase (unspecified) 2 2 + 2
PRJNA304683 (BioSample SAMN04306665)], ‘Strepto- Phenylalanine arylamidase + + + +
bacillus ratti’ OGS16 [LKKW00000000 (SAMN04099675)], Ala-phe-pro arylamidase 2 + 2 +
Streptobacillus notomytis AHL 370-1T [LJRV00000000 L -Lysine arylamidase 2 2 + 2
(SAMN04038436)], Streptobacillus hongkongensis DSM Tyrosine arylamidase + + 2 +
26322T [PRJNA304683 (SAMN04306666)], Leptotrichia Phenylphosphonate 2 + 2 2
buccalis DSM 1135T (CP001685) and Sebaldella termitidis L -Proline arylamidase + + 2 +
ATCC 33386T (CP001739) were 71.42, 70.28, 70.15, 70.08, API Zym
Alkaline phosphatase 2 2 + +
70.08, 69.01 and 67.14 %, respectively. By contrast, the gen-
Esterase (C4) W W W +
omes of CCUG 39713T and 151011837 shared 99.57 % ANI,
Esterase lipase (C8) W W 2 +
thereby underlining conspecificity (Richter & Rosselló-
Leucine arylamidase 2 W W 2
Móra, 2009). As a countercheck and to avoid statistical a-Chymotrypsin 2 2 2 +
uncertainty we were able to confirm these results by using Acid phosphatase 2 2 + +
the in-silico genome-to-genome comparison tool (GGDC b-Glucuronidase 2 2 + 2
2.0; http://ggdc.dsmz.de/) that works independently from
ANI and was found to yield higher correlations with conven-
tional DDH (Meier-Kolthoff et al., 2013). Strains CCUG
39713T and 151011837 constantly displayed DDH levels of 12112T as Neisseria cinerea with 98 % confidence (bp
,22.10 % to Sneathia sanguinegens CCUG 41628T and all 0232000000), and Sneathia sanguinegens CCUG 41628T as
other species of the genus Streptobacillus using formula 2 Haemophilus influenzae/Kingella kingae/Branhamella catar-
[identities/high-scoring pair length; data not shown]. rhalis (bp 4210000040/4610000040), respectively. Strains
CCUG 39713T and 151011837 could not be differentiated
Strains CCUG 39713T and 151011837 displayed three from Sneathia sanguinegens CCUG 41628T and Streptoba-
conserved signature indels in the amino acid sequences of cillus moniliformis DSM 12112T based on physiological
an MreB/MrI family protein (MreB/MrI; 2 aa deletion), characteristics alone. The antimicrobial susceptibility
alanine-tRNA ligase (AlaS; 5 aa insertion) and RecA pattern was determined using MICs obtained by the
(2 aa insertion) (data not shown) that were recently broth microdilution test (Merlin Diagnostika) and revealed
found to be specific to the family Leptotrichiaceae (Gupta the following MIC values (in mg ml–1): colistin (.4),
& Sethi, 2014). enrofloxacin (.1), tetracycline (,0.5), spectinomycin
From the results of the 16S rRNA, gyrB, groEL and recA (.16), erythromycin (.2), gentamicin (.2), florfenicol
gene sequence analysis and ANI analysis it is evident that (.1) and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (.4/76). This
strains CCUG 39713T and 151011837 are conspecific and pattern is clearly in contrast to values that are typical
different from species of the genera Sneathia, Strepto- for members of the genera Sneathia and Streptobacillus
bacillus, Leptotrichia and Sebaldella and so should be (data not shown).
placed into a new genus. For matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-
Results from the physiological characterization are given flight MS (MALDI-TOF MS), strains CCUG 39713T and
in the species description and in Table 1. Biochemical 151011837, Sneathia sanguinegens CCUG 41628T, Strepto-
profiling was carried out in triplicate according to the bacillus moniliformis DSM 12112T, Streptobacillus hongkon-
manufacturer’s instructions using commercial test systems, gensis DSM 26322T, Streptobacillus felis 131000547T,
i.e. VITEK2-compact with the NHI card and API Zym Streptobacillus notomytis AHL370-1T, ‘Streptobacillus ratti’
(both bioMeriéux). Vitek NHI identified strain CCUG OGS16 and Sebaldella termitidis NCTC 11300T were
39713T as Neisseria cinerea [bio profile (bp) 0231000000] incubated for 3–5 days and subsequently selected from
and strain 151011837 as N. cinerea/Neisseria elongata the SBA plates and then transferred to steel targets accord-
(bp 0233000002), Streptobacillus moniliformis DSM ing to the manufacturer’s instructions (BrukerBiotyper;
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T. Eisenberg and others

BrukerDaltonics). Strains were prepared using the direct
transfer protocol provided by the manufacturer. Analysis
was performed on a MALDI-TOF MS Biotyper Version
V3.3.1.0 with DB 5627 database (BrukerDaltonics).
A dendrogram, including selected main spectra peak lists
of the family Leptotrichiaceae from the Bruker database,
as well as manual entries of strains CCUG 39713T and
151011837, Sneathia sanguinegens CCUG 41628T, Strepto-
bacillus hongkongensis DSM 26322T, Streptobacillus felis
131000547T, Streptobacillus notomytis AHL370-1T, ‘Strepto-
bacillus ratti’ OGS16 and Sebaldella termitidis ATCC
33386T, is depicted in Fig. S5. It shows a clear
differentiation of strains CCUG 39713T and 151011837
with obvious score levels above 2.2 from the other taxa.
Fatty acid composition data were compared as depicted
on the CCUG website for strain CCUG 39713T and
other members of the family Leptotrichiaceae (Table 2).
The major fatty acids C16 : 0, C18 : 0, C18 : 1v9c and
C18 : 2v6,9c/C18 : 0 ANTE as described previously for Strep-
tobacillus moniliformis (Pins et al., 1996; Rowbotham, 1983;
Rygg & Bruun, 1992) were also detected in our
investigations.
Both the molecular differences obtained by ANI and phylo-
genetic analyses (Figs 1 & S1–S4), the differences based on
MALDI-TOF MS (Fig. S5) and antimicrobial susceptibility
patterns support the position of strains CCUG 39713T and
151011837 in a separate genus of the family Leptotrichiaceae.
The fastidious growth of strains CCUG 39713T and
151011837 exclusively in an anaerobic environment in
the presence of blood or serum, their negative reactivity
for cytochrome oxidase, catalase, nitrate and indole, their
cotton-ball-like appearance in liquid media, their inducible
L-forms beside ‘normal’, small butyraceous colonies,
their Gram-negative filamentous rod-shaped phenotype

Table 2. Cellular fatty acid patterns of strains CCUG 39713T and 151011837, and Sneathia sanguinegens, ‘Sneathia amnii’ and
Streptobacillus moniliformis

Strains: 1, CCUG 39713T; 1a, CCUG 39713T; 1b, 151011837; 2, Sneathia sanguinegens CCUG 41628T; 3, Sneathia sanguinegens CCUG 38322;
4, ‘Sneathia amnii’ CCUG 52888; 5, ‘Sneathia amnii’ CCUG 52976; 6, Streptobacillus moniliformis CCUG 2469T. 1a and 1b represent repeats
according to the method of Kämpfer & Kroppenstedt (1996), for which bacteria were cultivated on TSA supplemented with 20 % (v/v) horse
serum. Biomass for fatty acid analysis was harvested after growth in an anaerobic environment on chocolate blood agar. Data are derived from
the CCUG website (http://www.ccug.se) and represent the percentage of the total fatty acids present. –, Not present.

Fatty acid 1 1a 1b 2 3 4 5 6

C10 : 0 – – – – – – – 0.8
C12 : 0 0.2 – – – – – – –
C14 : 0 0.9 1.0 0.9 0.5 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.8
C15 : 0 0.3 – 0.3 – 0.3 – – –
C16 : 0 22.3 28.6 26.6 18.5 16.1 19.1 17.2 23.3
C16 : 0iso 0.2 – – – 0.3 – – –
C16 : 1v7c 1.3 – – 1.8 1.6 1.6 1.6 1.1
Summed feature 3* (C16 : 1v7c /15iso0H) – 1.1 1.3 – – – – –
C16 : 1v9c 0.3 – – – 0.4 – 0.3 –
C17 : 0 0.8 1.2 1.0 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.5 0.8
C17 : 0ANTEiso 0.3 – – – 0.2 – – –
C17 : 1iso I/16 : 0DMA 1.3 – – – 0.9 – 0.7 –
C17 : 1v5ciso – – – 0.6 – 0.8 – 1.0
Summed feature 4* (C17 : 1iso I/ANTEisoB/I I) – 1.6 1.3 – – – – –
C17 : 1v8c 0.4 – 0.4 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.4 –
C18 : 0 22.5 36.9 34.5 14.2 14.7 16.3 12.3 27.5
C18 : 0iso 0.3 – 0.4 – – – – –
C18 : 03-OH 0.4 – – – – 0.5 0.5 –
C18 : 1v7c DMA – – – – – – 0.3 –
C18 : 1v9c 15.1 13.3 14.7 21.0 17.8 17.2 16.8 14.3
C18 : 2v6,9c/C18 : 0 ANTE 30.0 14.1 17.0 41.7 42.6 41.8 47.5 30.2
C19 : 0 or C20 : 0 aldehyde 0.2 – 0.4 – – – – –
C19 : 1iso I/18 : 0 DMA 0.3 – – – 0.4 – – –
C20:0 0.5 1.0 0.8 – 0.3 – – –
C20 : 1v9c 0.6 – 0.3 – – – – –
C20 : 2v6,9c 0.3 – – – 0.3 – – –
C20 : 4v6,9,12,15c 0.6 – – 0.6 1.4 – 0.8 –
Unidentified 1.5 0.8 0.3 – 1.3 1.3 0.6 –

*Summed features are fatty acids that cannot be separated by GLC.

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arranged in chains and clumps with irregular bulbous swel-
lings (Table 1) support their placement in the family Lep-
totrichiaceae and distinguish them from Sneathia
sanguinegens and ‘Sneathia amnii’ and members of the
genus Streptobacillus. Moreover, genotypical and phenoty-
pical differences prove strains CCUG 39713T and
151011837 belong to a new genus different from the
genera Sneathia, Streptobacillus, Leptotrichia and Sebaldella.
For this reason, here we propose the novel taxon Caviibac-
ter abscessus gen. nov., sp. nov.
Description of Caviibacter gen. nov.
Caviibacter (Ca.vi.i.bac’ter. N.L. fem. n. Cavia generic latin
name for the guinea pig Cavia porcellus; N.L. neut. n. bacter
rod; N.L. masc. n. Caviibacter a rod that is isolated from a
guinea pig).
Rods with rounded or pointed ends or pleomorphic bacilli
with coccobacillary, bacillary and filamentous forms. Occur
singly or form long, wavy chains. Gram-stain-negative.
Non-motile. Non-spore-forming. Obligate dependence on
an anaerobic atmosphere. Capable of growing without
haemolysis on blood agar and serum-containing agars,
and weakly on chocolate agar but not on MacConkey
agar; require blood, serum or ascitic fluid for growth.
Optimum temperature for growth is 35–37 uC. The
major fatty acids are C16 : 0, C18 : 0, C18 : 1v9c and
C18 : 2v6,9c/C18 : 0 ANTE. The DNA G+C content is
26.5–27.0 mol%; the genome size is 1.22–1.30 Mbp. The
type species is Caviibacter abscessus.
Description of Caviibacter abscessus sp. nov.
Caviibacter abscessus (abs.ces’sus. L. gen. masc. n. abscessus
of or derived from an abscess, referring to the typical clini-
cal state from where the organism was isolated).
Growth occurs after 3–5 days at 37 uC in an anaerobic
atmosphere on SBA, Schaedler agar, TSA or TSB with
20 % (v/v) horse serum, but only weak growth is observed
on chocolate agar and no growth on Gassner and MacCon-
key agar. Colonies are tiny, dry, butyraceous and slightly
opaque, measuring 0.1–0.4 mm in diameter. Colonies are
non-haemolytic on SBA. In liquid media [e.g. TSB with
20 % (v/v) horse serum), growth can be detected after
2–5 days as a ‘cotton ball’- or ‘bread crumb’-like appearance.
Microscopic morphological features are indicative of
Gram-negative, pleomorphic, fusiform to filamentous,
non-spore-forming, non-encapsulated, non-acid-fast rods
with a size of 0.47+ 0.2 mm (width) and 0.92 + 0.1 mm
(length) arranged in chains and clumps, also sometimes
displaying irregular, lateral bulbar swellings. Positive for
esterase (C4), esterase lipase (C8), phenylalanine aryl-
amidase, proline arylamidase and tyrosine arylamidase.
Negative for motility, acid phosphatase, alkaline phosphatase,
lipase (C14), lysine arylamidase, valine arylamidase, cystine
arylamidase, a-chymotrypsin, trypsin, naphthol-AS-BI-phos-
phohydrolase, a-galactosidase, b-galactosidase, a-glucosidase,
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Caviibacter abscessus gen. nov., sp. nov.
b-glucosidase, b-glucuronidase, N-acetyl-b-glucosaminidase,
a-mannosidase, a-fucosidase, cytochrome oxidase, catalase,
nitrate and indole.
The type strain, CCUG 39713T ( 5 DSM 101949T), and the
reference strain, 151011837, were both isolated from a
mandibular lymph node abscess in a guinea pig (Cavia
porcellus) in Sweden and Germany, respectively. The
genome size of the type strain is 1.22 Mbp; the G+C
content of the DNA of the type strain is 26.5 mol%.
Acknowledgements
We thank Anna Mohr, Ulrike Kling, Katharina Engel, Mersiha Curić,
Jens Heinbächer, Ursula Leidner, Maria Sowinsky and Gundula Will
for excellent technical assistance and Barbara Gamb for making
even the most exotic manuscripts available. Dr Svenja Rödel is
acknowledged for helpful advice during sample acquisition.
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