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. 2009 Mar;59(Pt 3):509-16.
doi: 10.1099/ijs.0.000950-0.

Emended description of Actinomyces naeslundii and descriptions of Actinomyces oris sp. nov. and Actinomyces johnsonii sp. nov., previously identified as Actinomyces naeslundii genospecies 1, 2 and WVA 963

Uta Henssge  1 , Thuy Do, David R Radford, Steven C Gilbert, Douglas Clark, David Beighton
Affiliations

Emended description of Actinomyces naeslundii and descriptions of Actinomyces oris sp. nov. and Actinomyces johnsonii sp. nov., previously identified as Actinomyces naeslundii genospecies 1, 2 and WVA 963

Uta Henssge et al. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol. 2009 Mar.

Abstract

Actinomyces naeslundii is an important early colonizer in the oral biofilm and consists of three genospecies (1, 2 and WVA 963) which cannot be readily differentiated using conventional phenotypic testing or on the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequencing. We have investigated a representative collection of type and reference strains and clinical and oral isolates (n=115) and determined the partial gene sequences of six housekeeping genes (atpA, rpoB, pgi, metG, gltA and gyrA). These sequences identified the three genospecies and differentiated them from Actinomyces viscosus isolated from rodents. The partial sequences of atpA and metG gave best separation of the three genospecies. A. naeslundii genospecies 1 and 2 formed two distinct clusters, well separated from both genospecies WVA 963 and A. viscosus. Analysis of the same genes in other oral Actinomyces species (Actinomyces gerencseriae, A. israelii, A. meyeri, A. odontolyticus and A. georgiae) indicated that, when sequence data were obtained, these species each exhibited <90 % similarity with the A. naeslundii genospecies. Based on these data, we propose the name Actinomyces oris sp. nov. (type strain ATCC 27044(T) =CCUG 34288(T)) for A. naeslundii genospecies 2 and Actinomyces johnsonii sp. nov. (type strain ATCC 49338(T) =CCUG 34287(T)) for A. naeslundii genospecies WVA 963. A. naeslundii genospecies 1 should remain as A. naeslundii sensu stricto, with the type strain ATCC 12104(T) =NCTC 10301(T) =CCUG 2238(T).

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Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Neighbour-joining tree showing taxonomic relationships between type and reference strains of A. naeslundii, A. oris sp. nov., A. johnsonii sp. nov. and A. viscosus and oral and clinical isolates determined by partial gene sequence analysis of atpA (a) and metG (b). Type and reference strains are identified by study numbers (see Table 1) and indicated as follows: •, A. oris sp. nov. (genospecies 2); ▪, A. naeslundii (genospecies 1); ◊, A. viscosus; ▴, A. johnsonii sp. nov. (genospecies WVA 963). Bootstrap values are indicated at corresponding nodes. See Supplementary Fig. S1 for dendrograms for rpoB, gyrA, pgi and gltA. Bars, 0.005 substitutions per site.
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