A thermotolerant acetic acid bacterium, designated strain CWBI-B418T
, isolated in Senegal
from mango fruit (Mangifera indica), was characterized in detail by means of genotypic and
phenotypic methods. The novel strain was strictly aerobic and exhibited optimal growth on YGM
medium at 35 6C. Cells were Gram-negative, motile and coccoid. The strain was assigned to
the genus Acetobacter on the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. DNA–DNA hybridization
experiments with its phylogenetically closest relatives showed that strain CWBI-B418T
represented a novel Acetobacter genospecies. The DNA G+C content of strain CWBI-B418T was
56.0 mol%. Phenotypic characteristics enabling the differentiation of strain CWBI-B418T from
phylogenetically related Acetobacter species were: production of 2-keto-D-gluconic acid from
D-glucose, but not 5-keto-D-gluconic acid, production of catalase but not oxidase, growth on yeast
extract with 30 % D-glucose, growth with ammonium as sole nitrogen source with ethanol as carbon
source, utilization of glycerol and ethanol but not maltose or methanol as carbon sources, and
growth in the presence of 10 % ethanol. Based on the genotypic and phenotypic data presented,
strain CWBI-B418T clearly represents a novel Acetobacter species, for which the name
Acetobacter senegalensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is CWBI-B418T (=LMG
23690T
=DSM 18889T
).