Isolation and characterization of a black-pigmented Corynebacterium sp from a woman with spontaneous abortion

An unusual black-pigmented coryneform bacterium was isolated from the uroge nital tract of a woman who experienced a spontaneous abortion during month 6 of pregnancy, Biochemical and chemotaxonomic analyses demonstrated that t he unknown bacterium belonged to the genus Corynebacterium. Phylogenetic an alysis based on 16S rRNA sequences (GenBank accession no, AF220220) reveale d that the organism was a member of a distinct subline which includes uncul tured Corynebacterium MTcory 1P (GenBank accession no. AF115934), derived f rom prostatic fluid, and Corynebacterium CDC B8037 (GenBank accession no, A F033314), an uncharacterized black-pigmented coryneform bacterium. On the b asis of chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic evidence, this organism probably re presents a new species and is most closely related to the uncharacterized C enters for Disease Control and Prevention group 4 coryneforms. Our strain i s designated CN-1 (ATCC 700975).