Campylobacter anatolicus sp. nov., a novel member of the genus Campylobacter isolated from feces of Anatolian Ground Squirrel (Spermophilus xanthoprymnus) in Turkey.

Seventy-four Gram-negative, motile, slightly curved rod-shaped, microaerophilic, oxidase-positive and catalase-negative isolates, recovered from fecal samples of the Anatolian ground squirrel (Spermophilus xanthoprymnus) in Kayseri, Turkey, were subjected to a polyphasic taxonomic study. Results of a genus-specific PCR indicated that all isolates belonged to the genus Campylobacter. 16S rRNA gene sequence analyses revealed the closest match as Campylobacter curvus DSM 6644 with identity levels of 96.41-96.70%. Based on the 16S rRNA gene phylogeny of the 74 isolates, six isolates (faydin-G24, faydin-G52, faydin-G105, faydin-G114, faydin-G129 and faydin-G140) were chosen as representatives for further characterization. The overall genome relatedness indices for the strain faydin-G140, compared to the most closely related type strain C. curvus ATCC 35224, were calculated as 15.2%, 72.5%, and 83.7% for digital DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH), and average nucleotide identity (ANIb and ANIm), respectively. The G+C content and genome size of the strains ranged between 35.2-35.4 mol% and 1.7-1.8 Mb, respectively. Based on data obtained from the polyphasic taxonomy approach, including phenotypic characterization as well as genomic and chemotaxonomic analyses, these strains are concluded to represent a novel species, for which the name Campylobacter anatolicus sp. nov. is proposed with faydin-G140 as the type strain (=DSM 112311 = LMG 32238).