Eight Gram-positive, catalase-negative bacterial strains were isolated during screening of enterococcal populations on plants. rep-PCR fingerprinting using the (GTG)(5) primer showed that the isolates constituted a single cluster that was separate from all known enterococcal species. 16S rRNA gene sequence phylogenetic analysis of three representative strains showed that the isolates belonged to the genus Enterococcus and that they clustered with the Enterococcus faecalis species group. Sequencing of the genes for the phenylalanyl-tRNA synthase alpha subunit (pheS) and the RNA polymerase alpha subunit (rpoA) also revealed the isolates' separate taxonomic position. Application of whole-cell protein fingerprinting, automated ribotyping and extensive phenotyping demonstrated the genetic and phenotypic homogeneity of the isolates and confirmed their separate position within the E. faecalis species group. The isolates represent a novel species of the genus Enterococcus, for which the name Enterococcus plantarum sp. nov. is proposed; the type strain is CCM 7889(T) (=LMG 26214(T)=C27(T)).

Czech Collection of Microorganisms Department of Experimental Biology Faculty of Science Masaryk University Brno Czech Republic

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