Intestinirhabdus alba gen. nov., sp. nov., a novel genus of the family Enterobacteriaceae, isolated from the gut of plastic-eating larvae of the Coleoptera insect Zophobas atratus

A bacterial strain, BIT-B35 T , was isolated from the gut of plastic-eating larvae of the Coleoptera insect Zophobas atratus . Its taxonomic position was determined by using a polyphasic approach. Cells were white-pigmented, Gram-stain-negative, motile short rods with terminal flagella. The 16S rRNA gene sequence (1411 bp) of strain BIT-B35 T showed highest similarity (98.1%) to Escherichia fergusonii ATCC 35469 T and Citrobacter koseri LMG 5519 T . The results of phylogenetic analyses, based on the 16S rRNA gene, concatenated sequences of seven housekeeping genes ( atpD , gyrB , infB , rpoB , pyrG , fusA and leuS ) and genome sequences, placed strain BIT-B35 T in a separate lineage among the family of Enterobacteriaceae . The major fatty acids were C 16 : 0 , C 17 : 0 cyclo and C 19 : 0 cyclo ω 8 c . The genomic DNA G+C content of strain BIT-B35 T was 57.1 mol%. The chemotaxonomic data plus results of physiological and biochemical tests also distinguished strain BIT-B35 T from members of other genera within the family Enterobacteriaceae . Therefore, strain BIT-B35 T is considered to represent a novel species of a novel genus within the family Enterobacteriaceae , for which the name Intestinirhabdus alba gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is BIT-B35 T (=CGMCC 1.17042 T =KCTC 72448 T ).