The honey bee gut microbiota contains many bacterial lineages that are specific to this ecosystem. Apis cerana, raised across the Asian continent, is of great significance to the maintenance and development of ecology and agriculture in Asia. Here, we report the isolation and characterization of strain QZS01T from the gut of Apis cerana from Pingwu County, Sichuan Province, PR China. The results of phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA sequences showed that strain QZS01T forms a monophyletic group together with clone sequences derived from variable insect hosts, and it shows 92% sequence similarity to its closest relative, Pseudomonas knackmussii. Strain QZS01T possesses a reduced genome (3.3 Mbp; G+C content, 38.05 mol%) compared to all other Pseudomonas species, and the whole-genome based phylogenetic reconstruction showed that strain QZS01T represents a novel genus within the family Pseudomonadaceae. Strain QZS01T is a Gram-stain-negative facultative anaerobe. It grows on brain heart infusion agar and the energy sources utilized for growth are very limited. Based on the results of genotypic and phenotypic analyses, we propose a novel genus and species, Entomomonas moraniae gen. nov., sp. nov., with the type strain QZS01T (=CGMCC 1.13498T=KCTC 62495T).
Keywords: Entomomonas; genome reduction; gut microbiota; honey bee; new genus.