Corynebacterium lowii sp. nov. and Corynebacterium oculi sp. nov., derived from human clinical disease and an emended description of Corynebacterium mastitidis

Strains of members of the genus Corynebacterium derived from ophthalmologic patients in Japan, Belgium and Switzerland and found to be closely related to-, but distinguishable from Corynebacterium mastitidis by 16S rRNA gene sequencing, were characterized using biochemical, chemotaxonomic, MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry and antimicrobial susceptibility methods and DNA-DNA hybridization as well as by whole-genome sequencing (WGS). Based on this investigation, we describe Corynebacterium lowii sp. nov. and Corynebacterium oculi sp. nov., derived from human ocular specimens, as well as emend the description of Corynebacterium mastitidis. Type strains for these species are: C. lowii R-50085(T) (=LMG 28276(T) =CCUG65815(T)) and C. oculi R-50187(T) (=LMG 28277(T) =CCUG65816(T)). DNA G+C content was found to be 62.2%(by HPLC) and 62.8%(by WGS) for C. lowii R-50085(T), 64.1%(HPLC) and 64.8%(WGS) for C. oculi R-50187(T) and 67.8%(HPLC) for C. mastitidis LMG 19040(T) [=S-8(T) =CCUG38654(T) =CECT 4843(T) =CIP 105509(T) =DSM44356(T) =IFO (NBRC) 16160(T) =JCM 12269(T)]