Faucicola mancuniensis gen. nov., sp. nov., isolated from the human oropharynx.

An aerobic, Gram negative, non-motile coccus, designated strain GVCNT2(T), was isolated from the tonsils of a healthy adult female. Cells were oxidase and catalase positive; positive for the production of esterase (C4), esterase lipase (C8) and leucine arylamidase and were weakly positive for Napthol-AS-B1-phoshorydrolase and alkaline phosphatase. Cells were also capable of hydrolysing DNA. Growth was observed between 20-37°C and in the presence of up to 1.5% NaCl. Phylogenetic analysis of near full length 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that the strain exhibited the closest sequence similarity to Moraxella boevrei ATCC 700022T (94.68%) and an uncultured bacterial clone (strain S12-08; 99%). The major fatty acids were C18:1ω9c, C18:0, C16:0 and C16:1ω6c/C16:1ω7c. The GC content of strain GVCNT2(T) was 40.7%. The major respiratory quinone identified was Q8. Strain GVCNT2(T) exhibited a comparable phenotypic profile to other members of the genus Moraxella but could be distinguished based on its ability to produce acid (weakly) from D-glucose, D-melibiose, L-arabinose and rhamnose and on its ability to hydrolyse DNA. On the basis of phenotypic and phylogenetic differences from other members of the family Moraxellaceae it is proposed that strain GVCNT2(T) represents a novel genus, Faucicola mancuniensis. The type strain is GVCNT2(T) (=DSM 28411; =NCIMB 14946).