A Gram-stain-positive bacterial strain, 395-6.2T, was isolated from traditional pickle in Heilongjiang Province, PR China. The bacterium was characterised by a polyphasic approach, including 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, pheS gene sequence analysis, rpoA gene sequence analysis, fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) analysis, determination of DNA G+C content, average nucleotide identity (ANI) analysis, in silico DNA-DNA hybridisation (isDDH) and an analysis of phenotypic features. Analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence showed that strain 395-6.2T was phylogenetically related to Lactobacillus farciminis, Lactobacillus formosensis, Lactobacillus futsaii, Lactobacillus crustorum, Lactobacillus nuruki, Lactobacillus heilongjiangensis, Lactobacillus musae, Lactobacillus nantensis, Lactobacillus mindensis, Lactobacillus kimchiensis, Lactobacillus zhachilii, Lactobacillus alimentarius, Lactobacillus bobalius, Lactobacillus kimchii and Lactobacillus paralimentarius. Strain 395-6.2T exhibited 95.7-99.4 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities, 85.0-94.0 % pheS gene sequence similarities, 94.2-98.0 % rpoA gene sequence similarities to type strains of phylogenetically related species. ANI and isDDH values between strain 395-6.2T and type strains of phylogenetically related species were 77.9-87.1 % and 22.5-33.5 %, respectively. Based upon the data obtained in the present study, a novel species, Lactobacillus huachuanensis sp. nov., is proposed and the type strain is 395-6.2T (=CCM 8927T=NCIMB 15188T=LMG 31179T).
Keywords: Lactobacillus; lactic acid bacteria; novel species; pickle.