Psychrobacillus vulpis sp. nov., a new species isolated from faeces of a red fox in Spain.

A facultative anaerobic, chemoheterotrophic, endospore-forming, Gram-stain-positive rod, designated as strain Z8T, was isolated from red fox (Vulpes vulpes) faeces sampled at Tablas de Daimiel National Park, Ciudad Real, Spain. Strain Z8T grew at 0-37 °C (optimum, 28 °C), in the presence of 0-5.5 % (w/v) NaCl (2.5 %, w/v) and at pH 6-10 (pH 7). The strain was motile and positive for catalase, oxidase, H2S and siderophore production, acid and alkaline phosphatases, and N-acetylglucosamine, adipic acid and malate assimilation. It hydrolysed starch, DNA, l-tyrosine, Tween 20, Tween 80 and lecithovitellin. Phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence indicated that strain Z8T is a member of the genus Psychrobacillus, showing high sequence similarity to Psychrobacillus lasiicapitis NEAU-3TGS17T (99.2 %) and Psychrobacillus soli NHI-2TT (99.1 %), and around 98 % to other known species of the genus Psychrobacillus. Digital DNA-DNA hybridization and average nucleotide identity values were lower than 24 and 79 %, respectively, with the most related species. In silico G+C content was 35.9 mol%. The major cellular fatty acids of strain Z8T were iso-C14 : 0, iso-C15 : 0 and anteiso-C15 : 0. The novel strain contained diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylglycerol as predominant polar lipids, and the main respiratory isoprenoid quinone was MK-8. Based on the 16S rRNA phylogenetic analysis, together with MLSA (recA, rpoB and gyrB), phylogenomic, chemotaxonomic and phenotypic results, we demonstrate that strain Z8T represents a novel species of the genus Psychrobacillus, for which the name Psychrobacillus vulpis sp. nov., is proposed. The type strain is Z8T (=CECT 9721T=LMG 31001T).