Two novel species, sp. nov. and sp. nov., recovered from clinical samples carrying multiple virulence factors.

Two strains 170198 and 170250 were isolated from clinical blood samples from distinct patients in a hospital in Chengdu, China, in 2022. These isolates were subjected to whole-genome sequencing. A phylogenomic tree based on 2,096 concatenated core genes showed that the two strains were clustered within the genus . The average nucleotide identity (ANI) and DNA-DNA hybridization (DDH) values between each of the two strains and type strains of all currently known species were determined. The two strains belonged to two novel species as the highest ANI and DDH values with type strains of all currently known species below the cutoff for species demarcation (96% for ANI and 70% for DDH). Then the physiological and biochemical studies demonstrated that biochemical features and the profile of whole fatty acids of strains 170198 and 170250 were largely consistent with those known species. Nevertheless, the two novel species can be differentiated from all other species by certain biochemical characteristics. In conclusion, 170198 and 170250 represent two novel species of the genus , for which we propose sp. nov. and sp. nov., as the species names. The type strains of sp. nov., and sp. nov. are 170198 (=GDMCC 1.3549=JCM 35826) and 170250 (=GDMCC 1.3670=JCM 36189), respectively. The two novel species have clinical significance with the ability to cause bloodstream infections.IMPORTANCE is a group of bacteria comprising several common opportunistic pathogens and has a complicated taxonomy. Here, we reported two novel species. We demonstrated that the two novel species can be differentiated from other species by certain phenotypic characteristics and therefore provide information for designing tests for identification. We also showed that strains of the two novel species are able to cause human bloodstream infections and carry multiple virulence factors and therefore are of clinical significance. We highlight that the virulence of is less studied and warrants further exploration. We believe that the findings here are valuable for enhancing the appreciation toward , an important pathogen.