Bifidobacterium aquikefiri sp. nov., isolated from water kefir

A novel , strain LMG 28769 , was isolated from a household water kefir fermentation process. Cells were Gram-stain-positive, non-motile, non-spore-forming, catalase-negative, oxidase-negative and facultatively anaerobic short rods. Analysis of its 16S rRNA gene sequence revealed and (97.4 and 97.1 % similarity towards the respective type strain sequences) as nearest phylogenetic neighbours. Its assignment to the genus was confirmed by the presence of fructose 6-phosphate phosphoketolase activity. Analysis of the gene sequence revealed very low similarity with nucleotide sequences in the NCBI nucleotide database. The genotypic and phenotypic analyses allowed the differentiation of strain LMG 28769 from all recognized species. Strain LMG 28769 ( = CCUG 67145 = R 54638 ) therefore represents a novel species, for which the name sp. nov. is proposed.