Acinetobacter ursingii sp nov and Acinetobacter schindleri sp nov., isolated from human clinical specimens

The taxonomic status of two recently described phenetically distinctive gro ups within the genus Acinetobacter, designated phenon I and phenon 2, was i nvestigated further. The study collection included 51 strains, mainly of cl inical origin, from different European countries with properties of either phenon 1 (29 strains) or phenon 2 (22 strains). DNA-DNA hybridization studi es and DNA polymorphism analysis by AFLP revealed that these phenons repres ented two new genomic species. Furthermore, 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis of three representatives of each phenon showed that they formed two distin ct lineages within the genus Acinetobacter. The two phenons could be distin guished from each other and from all hitherto-described Acinetobacter (geno mic) species by specific phenotypic features and amplified rDNA restriction analysis patterns. The names Acinetobacter ursingii sp. nov. (type strain LUH 3792(T) = NIPH 137(T) = LMG 19575(T) = CNCTC 6735(T)) and Acinetobacter schindleri sp. nov. (type strain LUH 5832(T) = NIPH 1034(T) = LMG 19576(T) = CNCTC 6736(T)) are proposed for phenon I and phenon 2, respectively. Cli nical and epidemiological data indicate that A. ursingii has the capacity t o cause bloodstream infections in hospitalized patients.