Phocaeicola abscessus gen. nov., sp. nov., an anaerobic bacterium isolated from a human brain abscess sample.

A strictly anaerobic bacterial strain, 7401987T, was isolated from a human brain abscess sample. Cells were Gram-negative, non-spore-forming, coccoid to rod-shaped and motile by flagella in a lophotrichous arrangement. The isolate was asaccharolytic and the major cellular fatty acids were anteiso-C15 : 0 (28.2 %), C16 : 0 (18.0 %), iso-C15 : 0 (12.3 %) and iso-C17 : 0 3-OH (11.7 %). 16S rRNA gene sequence comparisons showed that the isolate was distantly related to members of the genera Bacteroides (<83.6 % similarity), Parabacteroides (<79.9 % similarity), Tannerella (<79.8 % similarity), Dysgonomonas (<79.6 % similarity), Porphyromonas (<79.3 % similarity) and Prevotella (<78.9 % similarity). The low 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity values and physiological and biochemical characteristics differentiated strain 7401987T from all known species and indicate that our isolate represents a novel species in a new genus within the phylum Bacteroidetes. The name Phocaeicola abscessus gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed; the type strain of Phocaeicola abscessus is 7401987T (=CCUG 55929T =CSUR P22T =DSM 21584T).