Dolosigranulum savutiense sp. nov., isolated from human upper respiratory samples collected in Botswana

Four strains (MSK211, MSK294^T, MSK312, MSK433) of a novel <i>Dolosigranulum</i> species were cultured from nasopharyngeal swabs collected from mother-infant dyads in southern Botswana. These strains grew optimally on tryptic soy agar with 5% sheep blood solid medium and in fastidious bacteria broth. Colonies on tryptic soy agar with 5% sheep blood agar appeared grey or white with a flat, smooth surface and variable alpha haemolysis. Cells were Gram-positive, non-spore-forming, non-motile cocci that lacked catalase or oxidase activity. Major fatty acids were C_{16 : 0} (palmitic acid), C_{18 : 1}ω9<i>c</i> (oleic acid), and C_{18 : 0} (stearic acid). Analyses of 16S rRNA gene sequences identified these strains as belonging to the genus <i>Dolosigranulum</i> (family <i>Carnobacteriaceae</i>), which currently contains only a single validly published species (<i>Dolosigranulum pigrum</i>). Whole-genome sequencing revealed that the genomes of these strains are 1.98-2.07 Mbp in size and have a G+C content of 39.6-39.9 mol%. Comparisons of these genomes to publicly available genomes of <i>D. pigrum</i> yielded average nucleotide identities and <i>in silico</i> DNA-DNA hybridization values of 92.3-92.9% and 49.1-51.4%, respectively. These results indicate that these strains represent a novel species of <i>Dolosigranulum</i>, for which we propose the name <i>Dolosigranulum savutiense</i> sp. nov., with the type strain MSK294^T (=DSM 117171^T=JCM 36673^T).