Corynebacterium mustelae sp. nov., isolated from a ferret with lethal sepsis.

A non-lipophilic coryneform bacterium, strain 3105(T), was isolated from various tissues of a ferret with lethal sepsis. The strain was characterized by phenotypic and chemotaxonomic methods, which suggested an assignment of the isolate to the genus Corynebacterium. Strain 3105(T) exhibited the following peculiar features that made it possible to differentiate it phenotypically from all other corynebacteria: its distinctive 'humid cellar'-like odour, strong adherence to agar and a greenish-beige pigment. Strain 3105(T) exhibited more than 2.8 % 16S rRNA gene sequence divergence from its closest phylogenetic neighbour, Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis NCTC 3450(T) (97.12 % sequence similarity). Analysis of the highly variable region within the rpoB gene sequence showed that strain 3105(T) exhibited more than 14 % divergence from its closest phylogenetic relative, again C. pseudotuberculosis. Based on the data presented, it is proposed that the ferret isolate should be classified within a novel species, Corynebacterium mustelae sp. nov. (type strain 3105( T) =CCUG 57279(T) =DSM 45274(T)).