Neisseria oralis sp. nov., Isolated from Healthy Gingival Plaque and Clinical samples

Authors

William J. Wolfgang, New York State Department of Health
Teresa V. Passaretti, New York State Department of Health
Reashma Jose, New York State Department of Health
Jocelyn Cole, New York State Department of Health
An Coorevits, University College Ghent and Ghent University
Andrea N. Carpenter, New York State Department of Health
Sherly Jose, New York State Department of Health
Anita Van Landschoot, University College Ghent and Ghent University
Jacques Izard, Forsyth Institute and Harvard UniversityFollow
Donna J. Kohlerschmidt, New York State Department of Health
Peter Vandamme, Ghent University
Floyd E. Dewhirst, Forsyth Institute and Harvard University
Mark A. Fisher, University of Utah
Kimberlee A. Musser, New York State Department of Health

ORCID IDs

Izard https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5904-5436

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2013

Citation

International Journal of Systematics and Evolutionary Microbiology (2013) 63: 1,323–1,328

Abstract

A polyphasic analysis was undertaken of seven independent isolates of gram-negative cocci collected from pathological clinical samples from New York, Louisiana, Florida, and Illinois and healthy subgingival plaque from a patient in Virginia, USA. The 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity among these isolates was 99.7–100 %, and the closest species with a validly published name was Neisseria lactamica (96.9 % similarity to the type strain). DNA–DNA hybridization confirmed that these isolates are of the same species and are distinct from their nearest phylogenetic neighbor, N. lactamica. Phylogenetic analysis of 16S and 23S rRNA gene sequences indicated that the novel species belongs in the genus Neisseria. The predominant cellular fatty acids were C_16:0, summed feature 3 (C_16:1ω7c and/or iso-C_15:0 2-OH) and C_18:1ω7c. The cellular fatty acid profile, together with other phenotypic characters, further supports the inclusion of the novel species in the genus Neisseria. The name Neisseria oralis sp. nov. (type strain 6332^T = DSM 25276^T = LMG 26725^T) is proposed.

In 2005, the Wadsworth Center Bacteriology Laboratory received two independent isolates of bacteria from clinical specimens as part of their reference testing for New York State laboratories (designated 6332^T and 8261) that had identical nearly full-length 16S rRNA gene sequences. The most closely related species, based on sequence similarity, was Neisseria lactamica (96.9 % similarity to the type strain returned by EzTaxon, suggesting that the isolates may represent a novel species. A blast search of GenBank revealed an additional isolate with 100% sequence similarity, Neisseria sp. oral taxon 014 strain F0314 (GenBank accession no. GQ131417), which we acquired. Four additional isolates were acquired from Associated Regional and University Pathologists (ARUP) Laboratories and found to have 99.7–99.9% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity to the three other isolates. Suggesting a widespread prevalence for this organism, the GenBank blast search also identified other studies in which the same 16S rRNA gene sequence was detected (sequence similarity > 99.6 %) by culture-independent methodologies. The sources of these clones were subgingival plaque (healthy and diseased), healthy skin and respiratory samples from cystic fibrosis patients. In the polyphasic study described here, the seven acquired isolates were found to belong to a single novel species, for which we propose the name Neisseria oralis sp. nov.

The seven isolates were maintained at 37 °C in a 5 % CO2 atmosphere on trypticase soy agar (TSA) plates (Becton Dickinson) supplemented with 5 % sheep blood. Four of the isolates were from blood cultures; one was from urine, one was from paracentesis fluid and one was from subgingival oral biofilm at a healthy site (Table 1). A representative strain, 6332T, was chosen as the type strain.