Formicincola oecophyllae gen. nov. sp. nov., a novel member of the family Acetobacteraceae isolated from the weaver ant Oecophylla smaragdina

• Published in: Antonie van Leeuwenhoek Vol. 115; no. 8; pp. 995 - 1007
• Main Authors: Chua, Kah-Ooi, Liew, Yvonne Jing Mei, See-Too, Wah-Seng, Tan, Jia-Yi, Yong, Hoi-Sen, Yin, Wai-Fong, Chan, Kok-Gan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01-08-2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Acetobacteraceae; Amino acids; Bacteria; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA; Fatty acids; Genomes; Hybridization; Life Sciences; Medical Microbiology; Microbiology; New species; Nucleotides; Oecophylla smaragdina; Original Paper; Phylogenetics; Phylogeny; Plant Sciences; Quinones; rRNA 16S; Soil Science & Conservation; Ubiquinone; Rhodospirillales; Polyphasic taxonomy; Asian weaver ant; Symbiotic bacterium; Insect
• ISSN: 0003-6072; 1572-9699
• DOI: 10.1007/s10482-022-01750-8

In this study, a novel bacterium designated F3b2
T
was isolated from the gut sample of weaver ant
Oecophylla smaragdina
and characterised. Strain F3b2
T
was a Gram-negative, aerobic, non-motile, ovoid-shaped bacterium and grows optimally at 28–30 °C. Its major respiratory quinone is ubiquinone 10 (Q-10) and the major fatty acids are C
18:1
ω
7
c
, C
19:0
cyclo
ω
8
c
and C
16:0
, representing 85% of the total fatty acids. The 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain F3b2
T
was highest in similarity to that of
Oecophyllibacter saccharovorans
DSM106907
T
and
Swingsia samuieinsis
NBRC 107927
T
at 94.35% and 91.96%, respectively. A 16S rRNA gene-based phylogenetic analysis and a core genes-based phylogenomic analysis placed strain F3b2
T
in a distinct lineage in the family
Acetobacteraceae
. The phylogenetic placement was supported by lower than species delineation threshold average nucleotide identity (ANI) (≤ 70.2%), in silico DNA-DNA hybridization (DDH) (≤ 39.5%) and average amino acid identity (AAI) (≤ 63.5%) values between strain F3b2
T
and closest neighbours. These overall genome relatedness indices also supported the assignment of strain F3b2
T
to a novel genus within
Acetobacteraceae
. The genome of strain F3b2
T
was 1.96 Mb with 60.4% G + C DNA content. Based on these results, strain F3b2
T
represented a novel taxon of
Acetobacteraceae
, for which we proposed the name
Formicincola oecophyllae
gen. nov. sp. nov., and strain F3b2
T
(= LMG 30590
T
 = DSM 106908
T
 = NBRC 113640
T
 = KCTC 62951
T
) as the type strain.