Two new members of the family Aerococcaceae: Tuanshanicoccus yangjingiae gen. nov., sp. nov. and Tuanshanicoccus lijuaniae sp. nov., isolated from the trachea of Marmota himalayana

Nine strains of two Gram-positive, facultative anaerobic, catalase-, oxidase- and urease-negative coccoid species, designated as zg-252^T, zg-1578, zg-B36, zg-ZUI334, and zg-1292^T, zg-A91, zg-BR9, zg-BR22 and zg-BR33, were isolated from the trachea of <i>Marmota himalayana</i>. The nine strains grew optimally at 37 °C, pH 7.0 and 0.5% NaCl. Comparative analysis of the 16S rRNA gene revealed that the two novel type strains were most closely related to each other, with low similarity to known species in the family <i>Aerococcaceae</i>. Phylogenetic analyses based on the 16S rRNA gene and genome suggested that the nine strains form two independent branches, well separated from all genera of this family. The genomic G+C contents of strains zg-252^T and zg-1292^T were 36.0 mol% and 37.8 mol%. Comparative genomic analysis proved that the nine strains represent two different novel species of a new genus. The major fatty acids of this novel genus were C_{18 : 1} <i> ω</i>9c and C_{16 : 0}, with diphosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylglycerol as the major polar lipids, but no quinones were detected. The two novel species shared cell-wall aa (glutamic acid, alanine and lysine) and cell-wall sugars (ribose; with additional glucose in zg-1292^T). Based on the polyphasic analysis, we proposed that the unknown bacteria can be classified as <i>Tuanshanicoccus</i> gen. nov., with two species in this novel genus, type species <i>Tuanshanicoccus yangjingiae</i> gen. nov., sp. nov. (zg-252^T = GDMCC 1.1725^T = JCM 34096^T) and <i>Tuanshanicoccus lijuaniae</i> sp. nov. (zg-1292^T = GDMCC 1.2118^T = KCTC 43284^T).