NEISSERIA-WEAVERI SP-NOV, FORMERLY CDC GROUP M-5, A GRAM-NEGATIVE BACTERIUM ASSOCIATED WITH DOG-BITE WOUNDS

CDC group M-5 is a rod-shaped, gram-negative, nonmotile bacterium associated with dog bite wounds. DNA-DNA relatedness and biochemical and growth characteristics were studied for 54 strains from the collection at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One typical M-5 strain, 8142, was further studied by 16S rRNA sequencing. DNA from 40 of 53 strains showed 82 to 100% relatedness (hydroxyapatite method) to labeled DNA from strain 8142. The guanine-plus-cytosine (G+C) content in 8 of the 41 highly related M-5 strains was 50.5 to 52 mol%. These 41 strains were oxidase and catalase positive, nonfermentative, nitrite positive, nitrate negative, weakly phenylalanine deaminase positive, aerobic, and alpha-hemolytic (sheep blood). DNA from the 13 remaining strains showed only 7 to 46% DNA relatedness to strain 8142. These 13 non-M-5 strains differed from the M-5 strains in G+C content, growth characteristics, and biochemical profiles. DNA from M-5 strain 8142 was most closely related to DNA from groups EF-4b (47%) and EF-4a (45%). 16S rRNA sequence analysis placed M-5 strain 8142 in the Neisseriaceae cluster of the beta-3 subgroup of the class Proteobacteria. It was most homologous (98.4 to 98.8%) to Neisseria animalis, Neisseria flavescens, Neisseria canis, and Neisseria elongata. All data are consistent with M-5 being a new species of Neisseria, for which we propose the name Neisseria weaveri.