Gordonia neofelifaecis sp. nov., a cholesterol side-chain-cleaving actinomycete isolated from the faeces of Neofelis nebulosa.

A cholesterol side-chain-cleaving bacterial strain, AD-6(T), was isolated from fresh faeces of a clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa) and was studied using a polyphasic taxonomic approach. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that the novel strain formed a distinct subline within the genus Gordonia, its closest neighbours being the type strains of Gordonia cholesterolivorans, Gordonia sihwensis and Gordonia hydrophobica, with sequence similarity values of 98.2, 97.8 and 97.6 %, respectively. The gyrB gene sequence of strain AD-6(T) exhibited similarities of 77-91 % with those of the type strains of recognized species of the genus Gordonia, being most similar to the type strains of G. sihwensis, G. hydrophobica and Gordonia hirsuta (91, 87 and 84 % similarity, respectively). The results of whole-cell fatty acid analyses and DNA-DNA relatedness data readily distinguished the new isolate from its nearest neighbours. Strain AD-6(T) is therefore considered to represent a novel species of the genus Gordonia, for which the name Gordonia neofelifaecis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is AD-6(T) (=NRRL B-59395(T)=CCTCC AB-209144(T)).