TREPONEMA AMYLOVORUM SP-NOV, A SACCHAROLYTIC SPIROCHETE OF MEDIUM-SIZE ISOLATED FROM AN ADVANCED HUMAN PERIODONTAL LESION

A highly motile, medium-size, saccharolytic spirochete was isolated fr om an advanced human periodontal lesion in medium OMIZ-Pat supplemente d with 1% human serum, The growth of this organism is dependent on eit her glucose, maltose, starch, or glycogen. The cells contain six endof lagella, three per pole, which overlap in the central region of the ce ll body, On the basis of its cell morphology and enzyme activities, as well as its sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis protein and antigen profiles, this organism is clearly distinct from all previously cultured spirochetes. The presence of a novel species i s supported by the 16S rRNA sequence of this organism, which places it in phylotype 19 of Choi et al. (B, K, Choi, B, J, Paster, F, E, Dewhi rst, and U. B, Globel, Infect, Immun, 62:1889-1895, 1991), The only is olate, strain HA2P, is designated the type strain of a novel species, for which we propose the name Treponema amylovorum.