Moraxella bovoculi sp. nov., isolated from calves with infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis.

Eighteen isolates of a Gram-negative coccus (strain 237(T)) were cultured from the eyes of dairy and beef calves affected with infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis (IBK; 'pinkeye') in northern California, USA, during summer 2002. These isolates had near full-length (1397 bp) 16S rRNA gene sequences that clustered into three groups with 99.9 % sequence similarity. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence, the isolates were most closely associated with Moraxella bovis and Moraxella ovis in clade I of the classical moraxellae. Biochemically, the novel isolates could be distinguished from the other members of the genus Moraxella isolated from animals on the basis of phenylalanine deaminase activity. The results of partial sequence analysis of six housekeeping genes, the 16S-23S rRNA gene interspacer region and partial 23S rRNA gene provide strong support for the inclusion of these isolates in a novel taxon, for which the name Moraxella bovoculi sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is strain 237(T) (=ATCC BAA-1259(T)=CCUG 52049(T)).