Clostridium lapidicellarium sp. nov. and Clostridium moutaii sp. nov., two species isolated from fermentation cellar-producing sauce-flavour Chinese baijiu

is an important microbial component in pit mud due to its ability to produce alcohol and short-chain fatty acids. This study presents the characterization and taxonomy of two Gram-stain-positive, strictly anaerobic, rod-shaped mesophilic bacterial strains, designated MT-113 and MT-5 , isolated from pit mud in a fermentation cellar used for producing sauce-flavour Chinese baijiu. Phylogenetic analysis based on genome and 16S rRNA gene sequences of strains MT-113 and MT-5 indicates their affiliation with the genus (Cluster I of the Clostridia), with FW431 and WLY-B-L2 as the closest related species. The major cellular fatty acids (>10.0%) of both strains are C and summed feature 1 (iso-C h and/or C 3-OH). The G+C molar contents of the complete genomes for strains MT-113 and MT-5 are 35.84 and 32.74 mol%, respectively. The average nucleotide identity and average amino acid identity values between strains MT-113 , MT-5 , WLY-B-L2 and FW431 range from 79 to 85%. The primary products of glucose fermentation by MT-113 are acetic, butyric and isovaleric acids, while those of MT-5 are acetic, isobutyric, butyric and isovaleric acids. Based on their phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic characteristics, strains MT-113 (=CGMCC 1.18018 = JCM 36532 ) and MT-5 (=CGMCC 1.18016 = JCM 36530 ) are proposed as the type strains of two novel species of the genus , namely sp. nov. and sp. nov., respectively.