Three novel species of the Bacillus cereus group isolated from clinical samples in Japan
Mari Tohya, Tomomi Hishinuma, Shin Watanabe, Masahito Shimojima, Miho Ogawa, Tatsuya Tada, Teruo Kirikae
Abstract
Three Gram-positive bacterial strains, BML-BC004, BML-BC017 and BML-BC059, isolated from blood samples from three inpatients in Japan, were identified as members of Bacillus cereus using matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight MS. The 16S rRNA gene sequences of these three strains were more than 97.1 % similar to 18 type strains belonging to the B. cereus group. Whole-genome comparisons, using average nucleotide identity (ANI) and digital DNA–DNA hybridization (dDDH), confirmed that the three strains represented three individual distinct species belonging to the B. cereus group. A phylogenetic tree showed that BML-BC004, BML-BC017 and BML-BC059 were located close to B. luti , B. mobilis and B. paramycoides , respectively. Based on these phylogenetic and phenotypic data, including values below the threshold for ANI and dDDH, the three strains should be classified as representing three different novel species of the B. cereus group: Bacillus sanguinis sp. nov., with type strain BML-BC004 T (=DSM 111102 T =JCM 34122 T ), Bacillus paramobilis sp. nov., with type strain BML-BC017 T (=DSM 111100 T =JCM 34124 T ) and Bacillus hominis sp. nov., with type strain BML-BC059 T (=DSM 111101 T =JCM 34125 T ).