Streptococcus pluranimalium sp. nov., from cattle and other animals

1 Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Ghent, Salisburylaan 133, B9820 Merelbeke, Belgium 2 Faculty of Sciences, University of Ghent, Ghent, Belgium 3 University Hospital, University of Antwerp, Edegem, Belgium 4 Department of Food Science and Technology, University of Reading, Reading, UK 5 Regional Veterinary Investigation Centre, Torhout, Belgium Author for correspondence: L. A. Devriese. Tel: +32 9 2647435. Fax: +32 9 2647494. e-mail: luc.devriese{at}rug.ac.be ABSTRACT Strains from subclinical mastitis, from the genital tract and tonsils of cattle, from tonsils of a goat and a cat and from the crop and the respiratory tract of canaries were found to constitute a new streptococcal species, for which the name Streptococcus pluranimalium sp. nov. is proposed. Sequencing of 16S rRNA showed that Streptococcus thoraltensis and Streptococcus hyovaginalis were its closest known phylogenetic relatives. The new species showed some phenotypic resemblance to the poorly described species Streptococcus acidominimus , but whole-cell protein analysis and 16S rRNA sequencing revealed that the new species was only distantly related to the type strain of S. acidominimus. Identification of these bacteria, which showed heterogeneous biochemical reaction patterns, was most reliably made by whole-cell protein analysis. Nevertheless, a number of biochemical reactions can be used to differentiate S. pluranimalium from other animal streptococci. Strain LMG 14177 T , isolated from mastitic milk of a dairy cow, was designated as the type strain of S. pluranimalium sp. nov. Key Words: Streptococcus pluranimalium sp. nov. • mastitis • genital tract flora • domestic animals The GenBank accession number for the 16S rRNA sequence of Streptococcus pluranimalium sp. nov. strain LMG 141771 is Y18026 .