Enterococcus canintestini sp. nov., from faecal samples of healthy dogs.

The taxonomic position of strain LMG 13590(T), originally isolated from dog faeces and classified as Enterococcus dispar in the BCCM/LMG Bacteria Catalogue, was reinvestigated. This strain and 12 recent isolates from faecal samples of healthy dogs occupied a clearly separate position when investigated with multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA) of the genes encoding the alpha subunit of ATP synthase (atpA), RNA polymerase alpha subunit (rpoA) and phenylalanyl-tRNA synthase alpha subunit (pheS). The 16S rRNA gene sequence of one representative strain showed highest similarities of 98-99% with E. dispar LMG 13521(T), Enterococcus canis LMG 12316(T) and Enterococcus asini LMG 18727(T). A further polyphasic taxonomic study based on whole-cell protein fingerprinting, DNA-DNA hybridization and biochemical features demonstrated that the 13 enterococcal dog faecal strains represent a single, novel Enterococcus species for which the name Enterococcus canintestini sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is LMG 13590(T) (=CCM 7285(T)).