Corynebacterium canis sp. nov., isolated from a wound infection caused by a dog bite

Abstract

A non-lipophilic, coryneform bacterium isolated from a patient's wound caused by a dog bite was characterized by phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and molecular genetic methods. Chemotaxonomic features suggested assignment of the unknown bacterium to the genus Corynebacterium. The isolate exhibited the following unusual features, which made it possible to phenotypically differentiate it from all other medically relevant corynebacteria: the Gram stain showed some very filamentous rods (>15 μm in length); some cells exhibited branching; colonies were domed and adherent to agar; the micro-organism was positive for pyrazinamidase, β-glucosidase, α-glucosidase and trypsin but negative for β-galactosidase. 16S rRNA gene sequencing and partial rpoB gene sequencing showed that the closest phylogenetic relative, Corynebacterium freiburgense, exhibited more than 1.9 % and 17.9 % divergence with the unknown bacterium, respectively. Based on both phenotypic and molecular genetic data, it is proposed that the isolate should be classified as a novel species, Corynebacterium canis sp. nov., with the type strain 1170(T) (=CCUG 58627(T) =DSM 45402(T)).