Corynebacterium endometrii sp. nov., isolated from the uterus of a cow with endometritis

A Gram-stain-positive bacterial strain, designated LMM-1653(T), was isolated from a uterus swab from a Holstein Frisian dairy cow in the frame of a clinical sampling trial. The isolated strain, which showed a rod to coccoid shape, was catalase-positive and oxidase-negative. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, its closest relatives were Corynebacterium flavescens and Corynebacterium argatoratense (96.50% similarity each), suggesting that this isolate represents a novel species. Strain LMM-1653(T) had a quinone system consisting mainly of menaquinones MK-8(H-2) and MK-9(H-2). The polar lipid profile showed presence of diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylinositol and phosphatidylinositol-mannoside as well as one unidentified glycolipid and one unidentified aminoglycolipid. Moderate to minor amounts of three unidentified glycolipids, beta-gentiobiosyl diacylglycerol, one unidentified aminoglycolipid and three unidentified lipids without a functional group were also found. The cell wall contained meso-diaminopimelic acid and the strain also contained corynemycolic acids. The fatty acid profile was predominantly composed of straight-chain, saturated and mono-unsaturated fatty acids, dominated by C-18:1 omega 9c and C-16:0. Since this isolate differs from the nearest related established Corynebacterium species in its genetic and phenotypic traits, a novel species named Corynebacterium endometrii LMM-1653(T) (=LMG-31164(T)=CCM 8952(T)) of the genus Corynebacterium is proposed.