- Volume 43, Issue 1, 1993

A new species, Enterobacter pyrinus, which was isolatedfrom brown leaf spot lesions on pear trees, is described on the basis of the characteristics of seven strains. These bacteria are gram-negative, facultatively anaerobic, straight rods (0.6 to 1.0 by 1.6 to 2.3 μm) thatare motile and peritrichous. As determined by DNA hybridization (hydroxyapatite method), these seven strains were 97.5% related in both 60 and 75°C reactions, with no evidence of sequence divergence, indicating that they are members of a single species. E. pyrinus is most closely related to Enterobacter gergoviae (46%)and to Enterobacter agglomerans hybridization group XI (37%). E. pyrinus is differentiated from E. gergoviae by its growth in KCN broth, acid production from myo -inositol, and lack of acid production from raffinose. The type strain of E. pyrinus is strain KCTC 2520 (= CDC G6570 = ATCC 49851).

Eight Erwinia stewartii strains, 11 Erwinia ananas strains, and 7 Erwinia uredovora strains, as well as 9 phenotypically similar Erwinia herbicola strains and Enterobacter agglomerans LMG 5342, were compared by examining electropherograms prepared from their soluble proteins and were grouped into nine protein electrophoretic groups. The levels of DNA relatedness among these electrophoretic groups were determined spectrophotometrically from the renaturation rates at 74°C of the DNAs of 13 selected strains. The representatives from five protein electrophoretic groups, including E. ananas LMG 2665T (T = type strain) and E. uredovora LMG 2667T, exhibited 76 to 100% DNA binding to each other and constituted DNA hybridization group 2665. All E. stewartii strains (including LMG 2715T) were electrophoretically very similar; representatives of this species exhibited 93 to 99% DNA binding to each other and constituted DNA hybridization subgroup 2715. The strains belonging to the remaining three protein electrophoretic groups exhibited 94 to 96% DNA binding to each other and formed DNA hybridization subgroup 2632. The latter two subgroups were 60 to 83% (average, 73%) interrelated and exhibited 30 to 39% DNA binding to group 2665. It is proposed that E. ananas and E. uredovora should be united in a single species, which should be classified in the genus Pantoea as Pantoea ananas (Serrano 1928) comb. nov.; its type strain is strain LMG 2665 (= NCPPB 1846). This species also includes DNA hybridization group VI of Brenner et al. (D. J. Brenner, G. R. Fanning, J. K. Leete Knutson, A. G. Steigerwalt, and M. I. Krichevsky, Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 34:45-55, 1984). The transfer of E. stewartii to the genus Pantoea and the creation of two separate subspecies within Pantoea stewartii (Smith 1898) comb. nov. are also proposed. Pantoea stewartii subsp. stewartii (Smith 1898) comb. nov. (synonym, Erwinia stewartii) contains the strains belonging to subgroup 2715, and its type strain is strain LMG 2715 (= NCPPB 2295); and Pantoea stewartii subsp. indologenes subsp. nov. contains the strains belonging to subgroup 2632, and its type strain is strain LMG 2632 (= NCPPB 2280). As determined by principal-component analysis of the cellular fatty acid compositions, P. ananas, P. stewartii subsp. stewartii, and P. stewartii subsp. indologenes are separated from each other mainly by differences in the relative contents of cis-9-hexadecenoic acid (C16:1 cis 9), cyclo-heptadecanoic acid (C17:0 cyclo), and straight-chain octodecenoic acids (C18:1). P. stewartii subsp. stewartii can also be differentiated from P. ananas and P. stewartii subsp. indologenes by its inability to produce indole, to utilize citrate, to grow on cis-aconitate, and to form acid from seven carbohydrates. P. stewartii subsp. indologenes can also be separated from P. ananas by its inability to form acid from sorbitol and α-methyl-D-mannoside. Descriptions of P. ananas and P. stewartii and its two subspecies are given, and the description of the genus Pantoea is emended.

The phosphatase activities of cells of representative enterobacterial species were studied after cells were grown in a chemically defined medium with variations in the amounts of phosphates and in pH (4.00 to 9.00). All strains of a given species demonstrated similar acid phosphatase activities after growth in the presence or absence of phosphates. In contrast, alkaline phosphatase was produced only by some species, and it was also strongly influenced by the presence of either glycerophosphate or Pi in the medium. There were four patterns of phosphatase activity, depending on the properties of the alkaline phosphatase. Phosphatase activity can be a valuable characteristic for inclusion in tests for the identification of enterobacteria.

A strain of Leptospira interrogans that was isolated from an ox slaughtered in Zimbabwe and belonged to serogroup Icterohaemorrhagiae could not be identified when we compared it with 18 reference strains belonging to this serogroup by using cross-agglutinin absorption, monoclonal antibody, and restriction endonuclease DNA analyses. The name zimbabwe is proposed for the new serovar containing this strain; the type strain of this serovar is strain SBF 23.

Three strains of a new diploid species of the genus Kluyveromyces van der Walt emend. van der Walt were isolated from exudates of Emory oak (Quercus emoryi) trees in Arizona. In physiological characteristics and nuclear DNA base composition (38 mol% G+C) these isolates most closely resemble Kluyveromyces africanus and Kluyveromyces delphensis, but the three taxa are genetically unrelated, as shown by DNA reassociation and ribosomal DNA restriction mapping. The morphology of these organisms is typical of the genus Kluyveromyces, except that the mature ascospores (four and occasionally more spores per ascus) are characteristically bacilliform rather than spheroidal, ellipsoidal, or reniform. Mitochondrial DNA (21 mol% G+C) is present in unusually large proportions (ca. one-half of the total DNA). The type strain of Kluyveromyces bacillisporus sp. nov. is strain UWO(PS) 85-349.2 (= ATCC 90019 = CBS 7720).

Candida apis (Lavie ex van Uden et Vidal-Leiria) Meyer et Yarrow differs from Candida apis (Lavie ex van Uden et Vidal-Leiria) Meyer et Yarrow var. galacta Golubev et Bab’eva in DNA base composition, DNA relatedness, ubiquinone system, and cellular fatty acid composition. We propose that C. apis var. galacta should be elevated to species level and named Candida galacta comb. nov. The type strain of this species is strain CBS 6939 (= NRIC [Nodai Research Institute Culture Collection, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Tokyo, Japan] 1910 = CCRC [Culture Collection and Research Center, Food Industry Research and Development Institute, Taiwan, Republic of China] 22278 = IFO 10031).