Aleya cavernae gen. nov., sp. nov., and Lacrimispora cavernae sp. nov., novel taxa isolated from bat guano.

Bats, of the order Chiroptera, comprise over 1,400 species and account for over 21% of all currently described mammalian species. However, despite this huge group of mammals, a remarkably small number of bacterial species have been described from this group. In a continuing study of non-human mammals, dozens of strains were isolated from anaerobic guano-pile enrichments collected in a bat cave near Protem, MO, USA. Of these, two novel taxa were identified and designated BS-2T and BS-20T; both were rod-shaped, Gram-stain-positive bacteria. Phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene and phylogenomic analysis placed BS-2T within the genus Lacrimispora, and BS-20T was located within the family Jonesiaceae, but with no particular affiliation to any genus. Overall genomic-based relatedness indices indicated that strains BS-2T and BS-20T shared average nucleotide identity and digital DNA-DNA hybridization values <95.0% and <70.0% with their nearest neighbouring taxa, which are the currently accepted thresholds for species-level delineation. Further, for strain BS-20T, genus-specific delineation indices demonstrated a shared average amino acid identity, and percentages of conserved proteins were <68.0% and <42.0%, respectively, between BS-20T and other Jonesiaceae taxa, below commonly accepted genus-level delineation thresholds. The predominant cellular fatty acid of isolate BS-2T was C16:0, whereas BS-20T contained C15:0 anteiso and C14:0 as the predominant cellular fatty acids. The G+C content of BS-2T and BS-20T was 44.1 and 56.5 mol%, respectively. Based on biochemical, phylogenetic, genotypic and chemotaxonomic criteria, strains BS-2T and BS-20T represent novel isolates within the genus Lacrimispora and family Jonesiaceae, for which the names Lacrimispora cavernae sp. nov. and Aleya cavernae gen. nov., sp. nov. are proposed. Strains BS-2T (=NRRL B 65694T=CCUG 77247T=CCM 9410T) and BS-20T (=NRRL B-65699T=CCUG 77269T) are proposed as the type species of these novel taxa.