Mycobacterium grossiae sp. Nov., a rapidly growing, scotochromogenic species isolated from human clinical respiratory and blood culture specimens

A previously undescribed, rapidly growing, scotochromogenic species of the genus Mycobacterium (represented by strains PB739^T and GK) was isolated from two clinical sources–the sputum of a 76-year-old patient with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, history of tuberculosis exposure and Mycobacterium avium complex isolated years prior; and the blood of a 15-year-old male with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia status post bone marrow transplant. The isolates grew as dark orange colonies at 25–37 °C after 5 days, sharing features in common with other closely related species. Analysis of the complete 16S rRNA gene sequence (1492 bp) of strain PB739^T demonstrated that the isolate shared 98.8% relatedness with Mycobacterium wolinskyi. Partial 429 bp hsp65 and 744 bp rpoB region V sequence analyses revealed that the sequences of the novel isolate shared 94.8 and 92.1% similarity with those of Mycobacterium neoaurum and Mycobacterium aurum, respectively. Biochemical profiling, antimicrobial susceptibility testing, HPLC/gas-liquid chromatography analyses and multilocus sequence typing support the taxonomic status of these isolates (PB739^T and GK) as representatives of a novel species. Both isolates were susceptible to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute recommended antimicrobials for susceptibility testing of rapidly growing mycobacteria including amikacin, ciprofloxacin, moxifloxacin, doxycycline/ minocycline, imipenem, linezolid, clarithromycin and trimethropin/sulfamethoxazole. Both isolates PB739^T and GK showed intermediate susceptibility to cefoxitin. We propose the name Mycobacterium grossiae sp. nov. for this novel species and have deposited the type strain in the DSMZ and CIP culture collections. The type strain is PB739^T (=DSM 104744^T=CIP 111318^T).