Macrococcus armenti sp. nov., a novel bacterium isolated from the skin and nasal cavities of healthy pigs and calves

Gram-positive coccoid bacteria were isolated from the nasal cavities of pigs and calves as well as from axillar and inguinal skin regions of pigs. Phylogenetic analysis of seven strains based on complete genome, 16S rRNA, hsp60, dnaJ, rpoB and sodA gene sequences and MALDI-TOF MS profiles revealed that they belonged to the genus Macrococcus with the closest relatedness to Macrococcus canis, Macrococcus caseolyticus subsp. caseolyticus and Macrococcus caseolyticus subsp. hominis. DNA relatedness of the type strain JEK37(T) with the type strains of M. canis, M. caseolyticus subsp. caseolyticus and M. caseolyticus subsp. hominis was 23.4, 23.1 and 23.0% by digital DNA-DNA hybridization and 80.39, 80.45 and 80.87% by average nucleotide identity (ANI) calculations, confirming that they do not belong to the same species. The DNA G+C content of JEK37(T) was 35.65 mol%. The novel strains can be differentiated from M. canis KM 45013(T) by the ability to fermentate D-ribose and by the absence of DNAase production and haemolysis, from M. caseolyticus subsp. caseolyticus CCUG 15606(T) by the ability to fermentate sucrose and from both species by the inability to grow in 9 and 12% NaCl. They differ from M. caseolyiticus subsp. hominis by the presence of alpha-glucosidase. The most common fatty acids of JEK37(T) were C-14:0, C-18:1 omega 9c and C-18:0. Known polar lipids consisted of diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, aminolipid, aminoglycolipid, aminophospholipid, glycolipid and phospholipid. Cell-wall peptidoglycan of JEK37(T) was of type A3 alpha L-Lys-Gly(2)-L-Ser-Gly (similar to A11.3) and the respiratory quinolone was menaquinone 6. Based on their genotypic and chemotaxonomic characteristics, these strains represent a novel species of the genus Macrococcus, for which we propose the name Macrococcus armenti sp. nov. The type strain is JEK37(T) (=DSM 112712(T)=CCOS 1982(T)).