Barnesiella viscericola gen. nov., sp. nov., a novel member of the family Porphyromonadaceae isolated from chicken caecum.

Two bacterial strains isolated from chicken caecum, C46T and C47, were characterized using a polyphasic taxonomic approach that included analysis of the phenotypic and biochemical features, cellular fatty acid profiles, menaquinone profiles and phylogenetic position (using 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis). The 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that these strains belonged to the family Porphyromonadaceae. These strains shared 100 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with each other and were related to Parabacteroides distasonis (showing 86 % sequence similarity). The strains were found to be obligately anaerobic, non-pigmented, non-spore-forming, non-motile, Gram-negative rods. Growth of the strains was inhibited on medium containing 20 % bile. The major menaquinones of the isolates were MK-11 and MK-12. This menaquinone composition was different from those of other genera of the family Porphyromonadaceae, such as Parabacteroides (in which the predominant menaquinones are MK-9 and MK-10), Porphyromonas (MK-9 and MK-10) and Tannerella (MK-10 and MK-11). This is an important chemotaxonomic characteristic of these micro-organisms. The DNA G+C content of strain C46T is 52.0 mol%. On the basis of these data, strains C46T and C47 represent a novel genus and species, for which the name Barnesiella viscericola gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of Barnesiella viscericola is C46T (=JCM 13660T=DSM 18177T).