Ezakiella peruensis gen. nov., sp. nov. isolated from human fecal sample from a coastal traditional community in Peru

• The importance of cultivation studies to augment the large number of molecular-based studies on the human gut microbiome.
• The use of these methods will help further our understanding of this important ecosystem.
• Any “yet-to-be-cultivated” organisms remain to be identified and characterized.

A novel Gram-stain positive, non-motile, non-sporeforming coccus-shaped, obligately anaerobic bacterium was isolated from a fecal sample of an individual residing in a traditional Peruvian community. The organism was characterized using biochemical, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic methods. Comparative 16S rRNA gene sequence analyses and phenotypic characteristics demonstrated that the organism was biochemically and phenotypically related, but distinct, from a group of organisms referred to as the Gram-stain positive anaerobic cocci (GPAC). The major cellular fatty acids of the novel isolate were determined to be C16:0 (18.3%), C18:1ω9c (39.8%), C18:2ω6,9c/C18:0 ANTE (13.2%). Fermentation end products from PYG are acetate and formate. Cell-wall peptidoglycan was found to be A4α (L-Lys-L-Ala-L-Glu) and the G + C content was determined to be 38.4 mol%. Based on the phenotypic, chemotaxonomic, and phylogenetic results, Ezakiella peruensis gen. nov., sp. nov., is now proposed. The type strain is M6.X2T (DSM 27367T = NBRC 109957 T = CCUG 64571T).