Anaerostipes hadrus comb. nov., a dominant species within the human colonic microbiota; reclassification of Eubacterium hadrum Moore et al. 1976.

Recent molecular analyses suggest that bacteria related to strains SS2/1 and SSC/2, previously reported to be distantly related to Anaerostipes caccae NCIMB 13811(T), represent one of the ten most abundant phylotypes detected in adult human faecal samples. These two strains were isolated as d-lactate-utilizing bacteria from faecal samples of a healthy individual. We show here that they share >99.9% similarity in 16S rRNA gene sequence with a new butyrate-producing isolate recovered from a colonic biopsy of a Crohn's disease patient, and also with the sequence reported recently for Eubacterium hadrum ATCC 29173(T). Biochemical profiling using API Rapid ID 32A and API ZYM test systems confirmed a close phenotypic similarity to E. hadrum ATCC 29173(T), but also indicated that the description of this species should be expanded to include the ability to produce butyrate from d-lactate and acetate. Phylogenetic analysis confirmed an affinity between E. hadrum and members of the genus Anaerostipes (92.3-94.2% sequence similarity) belonging to the family Lachnospiraceae (formerly Clostridium cluster XIVa). Based on phylogenetic, phenotypic and chemotaxonomic evidence it is proposed that E. hadrum be transferred to the genus Anaerostipes with the name Anaerostipes hadrus comb. nov. The type strain of A. hadrus comb. nov. is =ATCC 29173(T) (=DSM 3319(T) = VP 82-52(T)).