Lactobacillus curieae sp. nov., isolated from stinky tofu brine.

A lactic acid bacterium, strain CCTCC M 2011381(T), isolated from the brine of the traditional Chinese snack, stinky tofu, was studied to determine its taxonomic position. It was a Gram-stain-positive, non-motile, facultatively anaerobic rod-shaped bacterium that did not exhibit catalase activity. The DNA G+C content of the strain was 44.1 % and its peptidoglycan was characterized by the presence of meso-diaminopimelic acid. Levels of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity between strain CCTCC M 2011381(T) and the most closely related species Lactobacillus senioris JCM 17472(T), Lactobacillus parafarraginis JCM 14109(T) and Lactobacillus diolivorans JCM 12183(T) were 96.5, 96.4 and 96.4 %, respectively. Combined with data from high-resolution genomic markers recA, rpoA and pheS, strain CCTCC M 2011381(T) was classified as representing a novel species. The strain could also be distinguished from other related species of the genus Lactobacillus by its physiological and biochemical characteristics. Based on the phylogenetic, physiological and biochemical data, it is proposed that the new isolate can be classified as representing a novel species of the genus Lactobacillus, for which the name Lactobacillus curieae sp. nov. (type strain CCTCC M 2011381(T) = S1L19(T) = JCM 18524(T)) is proposed.