Acinetobacter entericus sp. nov., isolated from the gut of plastic-eating insect larvae Zophobas atratus

A Gram-negative, non-motile and rod-shaped strain, BIT-DXN8^T, was isolated from the gut of plastic-eating insect larvae Zophobas atratus. The taxonomic position of this new isolate was examined by using a polyphasic approach. A preliminary analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence (1411 bp) indicated that the most similar strain to BIT-DXN8^T was Acinetobacter bouvetii DSM 14964^T (98.5%), followed by Acinetobacter haemolyticus CIP 64.3^T (98.2%) and Acinetobacter pullicarnis S23^T (98.2%). The results of phylogenetic analyses, based on the 16S rRNA gene, concatenated sequences of five housekeeping genes (fusA, gyrB, recA, rplB and rpoB) and genome sequences, placed strain BIT-DXN8^T in a separate lineage among the genus Acinetobacter of the family Moraxellaceae . The average nucleotide identity and digital DNA–DNA hybridization values of the strain when compared to all other species within the genus Acinetobacter were below 96 and 70 %, respectively. The physiological and biochemical tests confirm the affiliation of strain BIT-DXN8^T to the present species within the genus Acinetobacter , but with some specific phenotypic differences. Therefore, strain BIT-DXN8^T is considered to represent a novel species, for which the name Acinetobacter entericus sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is BIT-DXN8^T (=CCTCC AB 2022117^T=KCTC 92696^T).