Description of Gemella massiliensis sp. nov., a new bacterium isolated from the human gut.
Abstract Thanks to its ability to isolate previously uncultured bacterial species, culturomics has dynamized the study of the human microbiota. A new bacterial species, Gemella massiliensis Marseille-P3249 T , was isolated from a sputum sample of a healthy French man. Strain Marseille-P3249 T is a facultative anaerobe, catalase negative, Gram positive, coccus and unable to sporulate. The major fatty acids were C 16:0 (34%), C 18:1n9 (28%), C 18:0 (15%) and C 18:2n6 (13%). Its 16S rRNA sequence exhibits a 98.3% sequence similarity with Gemella bergeri strain 617-93, its phylogenetically closest species with standing in nomenclature. Its digital DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH) and OrthoANI values with G. bergeri of only 59.7 ± 5.6% and 94.8%, respectively. These values are lower than the thresholds for species delineation (>70% and >95%, respectively). This strain grows optimally at 37°C and its genome is 1.80 Mbp long with a 30.5 mol% G+C content. Based on these results, we propose the creation of the new species Gemella massilienis sp. nov., strain Marseille-P3249 T (= CSUR P3249 = DSMZ 103940).