Genome-based, phenotypic and chemotaxonomic classification of Faecalibacterium strains: proposal of three novel species Faecalibacterium duncaniae sp. nov., Faecalibacterium hattorii sp. nov. and Faecalibacterium gallinarum sp. nov.

Faecalibacterium prausnitzii is one of the most important butyrate-producing bacteria in the human gut. Previous studies have suggested the presence of several phylogenetic groups, with differences at the species level, in the species, and a taxonomic re-evaluation is thus essential for further understanding of ecology of the important human symbiont. Here we examine the phenotypic, physiological, chemotaxonomic and phylogenomic characteristics of six F. prausnitzii strains (BCRC 81047T=ATCC 27768T, A2-165T=JCM 31915T, APC918/95b=JCM 39207, APC942/30-2=JCM 39208, APC924/119=JCM 39209 and APC922/41-1T=JCM 39210T) deposited in public culture collections with two reference strains of Faecalibacterium butyricigenerans JCM 39212T and Faecalibacterium longum JCM 39211T. Faecalibacterium sp. JCM 17207T isolated from caecum of broiler chicken was also included. Three strains of F. prausnitzii (BCRC 81047T, JCM 39207 and JCM 39209) shared more than 96.6 % average nucleotide identity (ANI) and 69.6 % digital DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH) values, indicating that the three strains are members of the same species. On the other hand, the remaining three strains of F. prausnitzii (JCM 31915T, JCM 39208 and JCM 39210T) were clearly separated from the above three strains based on the ANI and dDDH values. Rather, JCM 39208 showed ANI and dDDH values over the cut-off values of species discrimination (>70 % dDDH and >95-96 % ANI) with F. longum JCM 39211T, whereas JCM 31915T, JCM 39210T and JCM 17207T did not share dDDH and ANI values over the currently accepted cut-off values with any of the tested strains, including among them. Furthermore, the cellular fatty acid patterns of these strains were slightly different from other F. prausnitzii strains. Based on the collected data, F. prausnitzii JCM 31915T, F. prausnitzii JCM 39210T and Faecalibacterium sp. JCM 17207T represent three novel species of the genus Faecalibacterium, for which the names Faecalibacterium duncaniae sp. nov. (type strain JCM 31915T=DSM 17677T=A2-165T), Faecalibacterium hattorii sp. nov. (type strain JCM 39210T=DSM 107841T=APC922/41-1T) and Faecalibacterium gallinarum sp. nov. (type strain JCM 17207T=DSM 23680T=ic1379T) are proposed.