Sporaefaciens musculi gen. nov., sp. nov., a novel bacterium isolated from the caecum of an obese mouse

One isolate of a Gram-positive, long rod shaped, obligate anaerobic, and spore forming bacterium was isolated from the cecum content of an 18-week-old obese C57BL/6NTac male mouse. No motility was observed under applied conditions and colonies were irregular and non-pigmented. Analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequencing indicated that the isolate belonged to the family Lachnospiraceae with Clostridium scindens ATTC 35704 (94.9% sequence similarity) and Dorea formicigenerans ATCC 27755 (94.8% sequence similarity) being the closest relatives. Whole genome sequencing showed average nucleotide identity (ANI) ranging from 69.80 – 74.23% of the closest relatives. Percentage of conserved proteins (POCP) analysis against the same species provided values < 50%. The predominant metabolic end products of glucose fermentation were acetate and succinate, and the G+C content was 44.44%. Based on these data, strain WCA-9-b2 represent a novel genus and novel specie, for which the name Sporaefaciens musculi gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of S. musculi is WCA-9-b2 (=DSM 106039 = CCUG xxxxx).