Pantoea leporis sp. nov., isolated from the faecal material of a rabbit

A facultative anaerobic, Gram-stain-negative rod-shaped bacterium, designated RT, was isolated from the faecal material of a rabbit (Sylvilagus floridanus). The strain could not be identified using an MALDI Biotyper sirius CA System. The closest matches based on the Bruker library were members of the genera Citrobacter and Pantoea. However, the score value was in the range of no organism identification possible. Based on pairwise of 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, the isolate was found to be a member of the family Erwiniaceae. The highest sequence similarities were found to the sequences of Pantoea rodasii LMG 26273T (98.7 %), Leclercia adecarboxylata NBRC 102595T (98.5 %) and Enterobacter huaxiensis 090008T (98.4 %). Phylogenetic and whole genome analysis demonstrated that strain RT represents a novel species within the genus Pantoea. The predominant cellular fatty acids of strain RT were C16 : 0 and products present in summed feature 2 (C12 : 0) aldehyde, summed feature 3 (C16 : 1 ω6c and/or C16 : 1 ω7c) and summed feature 8 (C18 : 1 ω7c and/or C18 : 1 ω6c). In silico genome analysis showed the presence of enzymes required for production of diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylserine. The G+C content determined from the genome was 54.94 mol %. Based on biochemical, phylogenetic, genotypic and chemotaxonomic criteria, the isolate represents a novel species of the genus Pantoea for which the name Pantoea leporis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is strain RT (=CCUG 76269T=ATCC TSD-291T).