Description of Absiella argi gen. nov., sp. nov., and transfer of Eubacterium dolichum and Eubacterium tortuosum to the genus Absiella as Absiella dolichum comb. nov. and Absiella tortuosum comb. nov.

Gram-positive, straight or slightly curved rod-shaped bacteria, designated as strains N6H1-5 and N6H1-3, were isolated from fecal samples of old dog. The analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that the isolates belonged to the Clostridium cluster XVI and were closely related to Eubacterium dolichum KCTC 5832, Eubacterium tortuosum DSM 3987, Clostridium innocuum KCTC 5183, Allobaculum stecoricanis DSM 13633, Eubacterium limosum KCTC 3266, and Clostridium butyricum KCTC 1871, with 94.0%, 93.8%, 92.0%, 84.9%, 80.7%, and 80.0% sequence similarity, respectively. Chemotaxonomic data supported placement of the strains N6H1-5 and N6H1-3 in the new taxon. The strains contained m-diaminopimelic acid cell wall peptidoglycan; the major polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol (DPG), phosphatidylglycerol (PG), and glycolipids (GL); and the major fatty acids were Ccis 9 (30.7%) and C (17.1%). The predominant metabolic end product was lactic acid. The G + C content was 35.8 mol%. The most closely related species, E. dolichum and E. tortuosum, were also assigned to the new taxon, based on the phylogenetic analysis and phenotypic data. Thus, the type strain N6H1-5 (=KCTC 15422 = JCM 30884) represents a novel genus and species, for which the name Absiella argi gen. nov., sp. nov is proposed. It is also proposed that E. dolichum KCTC 5832 and E. tortuosum DSM 3987 be transferred to this new genus, and named Absiella dolichum comb. nov. and Absiella tortuosum comb. nov., respectively.