Leptospira mayottensis sp. nov., a pathogenic species of the genus Leptospira isolated from humans

• Published in: International journal of systematic and evolutionary microbiology Vol. 64; no. Pt 12; pp. 4061 - 4067
• Main Authors: Bourhy, Pascale, Collet, Louis, Brisse, Sylvain, Picardeau, Mathieu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England International Union of Microbiological Societies 01-12-2014; Society for General Microbiology
• Subjects: Bacterial Typing Techniques; Base Composition; Comoros; DNA; DNA, Bacterial - genetics; genes; Genes, Bacterial; Humans; Leptospira; Leptospira - classification; Leptospira - genetics; Leptospira - isolation & purification; Leptospira borgpetersenii; leptospirosis; Leptospirosis - microbiology; loci; microbiology; Molecular Sequence Data; Multilocus Sequence Typing; New Taxa; Nucleic Acid Hybridization; patients; Phylogeny; ribosomal RNA; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S - genetics; Sequence Analysis, DNA; serotypes; Indian Ocean; Comoros
• ISSN: 1466-5034; 1466-5026; 1466-5034
• DOI: 10.1099/ijs.0.066597-0

A group of strains representing species of the genus Leptospira , isolated from patients with leptospirosis in Mayotte (Indian Ocean), were previously found to be considerably divergent from other known species of the genus Leptospira . This was inferred from sequence analysis of rrs (16S rRNA) and other genetic loci and suggests that they belong to a novel species. Two strains from each serogroup currently identified within this novel species were studied. Spirochaete, aerobic, motile, helix-shaped strains grew well at 30–37 °C, but not at 13 °C or in the presence of 8-azaguanine. Draft genomes of the strains were also analysed to study the DNA relatedness with other species of the genus Leptospira . The new isolates formed a distinct clade, which was most closely related to Leptospira borgpetersenii , in multilocus sequence analysis using concatenated sequences of the genes rpoB , recA , fusA , gyrB , leuS and sucA . Analysis of average nucleotide identity and genome-to-genome distances, which have recently been proposed as reliable substitutes for classical DNA–DNA hybridization, further confirmed that these isolates should be classified as representatives of a novel species. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 39.5 mol%. These isolates are considered to represent a novel species, for which the name Leptospira mayottensis sp. nov. is proposed, with 200901116 ᵀ (= CIP 110703 ᵀ = DSM 28999 ᵀ) as the type strain.