Bartonella koehlerae sp. nov., isolated from cats

Two of the 25 Bartonella isolates recovered during a prevalence study of Ba rtonella henselae bacteremia in domestic cats from the greater San Francisc o Bay region were found to differ phenotypically and genotypically from all prior B. henselae isolates. These isolates, C-29 and C-30, which were reco vered from the blood of two pet cats belonging to the same household, grew on chocolate agar as pinpoint colonies following 14 days of incubation at 3 5 degrees C in a candle jar but failed to grow on heart infusion agar suppl emented with 5% rabbit blood. Additional phenotypic characteristics disting uished the isolates C-29 and C-30 from other feline B. henselae isolates. T he restriction patterns obtained for C-29 and C30 by citrate synthase PCR-r estriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis as well as by genom ic RFLP could not be distinguished from each other but were distinctly diff erent from that of the B. henselae type strain. In reciprocal reactions, DN As from strains C-29 and C-30 were 97 to 100% related under optimal and str ingent DNA reassociation conditions, with 0 to 0.5% divergence within relat ed sequences. Labeled DNA from the type strain of B, henselae was 61 to 65% related to unlabeled DNAs from strains C-29 and C-30 in 55 degrees C react ions, with 5.0 to 5.5% divergence within the related sequences, and 31 to 4 1% related in stringent, 70 degrees C reactions. In reciprocal reactions, l abeled DNAs from strains C-29 and C-30 were 68 to 92% related to those of t he B. henselae type strain and other B. henselae strains, with 5 to 7% dive rgence. The 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain C-29 was 99.54% homologous to that of the type strain of B. henselae, On the basis of these findings, the two isolates C-29 and C30 are designated a new species of Bartonella, for which we propose the name Bartonella koehlerae, The type strain of Bartonel la koehlerae is strain C-29 (ATCC 700693).