Draft Genome Sequence of Coccoid Lactobacillus equigenerosi NRIC 0697T Isolated from the Gastrointestinal Tracts of Healthy Thoroughbreds.

Lactobacillus equigenerosi NRIC 0697(T) was isolated from the gastrointestinal tracts of healthy thoroughbreds. This strain produced unique spherical or oval cells, which is rare in the genus Lactobacillus. Here, we report the draft genome sequence of this strain.

GENOME ANNOUNCEMENT

Lactobacillus equigenerosi forms a subcluster in the Lactobacillus reuteri group, being closely related to L. fermentum, L. gastricus, L. ingluviei, and L. mucosae, in the phylogenetic tree of the genus Lactobacillus (1). We previously isolated L. equigenerosi NRIC 0697T from the feces of two actively racing thoroughbred horses (1) and deposited strain NRIC 0697T as JCM 14505T and DSM 18793T in the Japan Collection of Microorganisms (JCM) and the Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen GmbH (DSMZ), respectively. This strain forms coccoid cells but not rod-shaped cells that are found in most lactobacilli (1). L. equigenerosi is considered to be specific to equines (2, 3) and has high autoaggregative properties. L. equigenerosi may be able to be used as a probiotic for equines, because this species is nonpathogenic and does not elicit an allergic response (3).

The L. equigenerosi NRIC 0697T genome underwent paired-end sequencing using the Illumina MiSeq platform. Genomic libraries containing 600- to 1,000-bp inserts were constructed and sequenced, yielding 3,584,696 sequences that provided 495-fold coverage from both ends of the genomic clones. The sequence reads were assembled using Newbler version 2.8 (Roche), and the assembled genome consisted of 84 contigs, with a total length of 1,594,458 bp. The genome size was relatively smaller than those of other lactobacilli. The draft genome of L. equigenerosi NRIC 0697T contained 1,496 predicted protein-coding genes and 43 tRNA genes. The genome information of this species will be useful for further studies of its physiology, morphology, taxonomy, and ecology.

Nucleotide sequence accession numbers.

The draft genome sequence for L. equigenerosi NRIC 0697T has been deposited in the DDBJ/GenBank/EMBL database under the accession numbers BCMX01000001 to BCMX01000084.