Lactococcus reticulitermitis sp. nov., isolated from the gut of the subterranean termite Reticulitermes speratus.

Strain Rs-Y01T was isolated from the gut of the wood-feeding subterranean termite Reticulitermes speratus. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequence indicated that the strain Rs-Y01T belonged to the genus Lactococcus and was most closely related to Lactococcus raffinolactis JCM 5706T with 98.1 % similarity in the 16S rRNA gene, followed by Lactococcus piscium JCM 16647T (97.2 %). Genomic comparisons of strain Rs-Y01T with L. raffinolactis JCM 5706T were made using the Genome-to-Genome Distance Calculator and average nucleotide identity analysis (values indicated 29.2 and 84.6 %, respectively). Strain Rs-Y01T was a Gram-stain-positive, facultatively anaerobic, non-motile coco-bacilli and formed l-lactic acid. The sugar fermentation and enzyme reactions of strain Rs-Y01T differed from those of other species of the genus Lactococcus. The major cellular fatty acids were summed feature 8 (C18 : 1ω7c/C18 : 1ω6c; 32.0 %), C16 : 0 (29.7 %) and C14 : 0 (18.1 %). Based on these characteristics, strain Rs-Y01T represents a novel species of the genus Lactococcus, for which the name Lactococcusreticulitermitis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is Rs-Y01T (=JCM 32106T =DSM 105715T ).