Leucobacter musarum subsp. musarum sp. nov., subsp. nov., Leucobacter musarum subsp. japonicus subsp. nov., and Leucobacter celer subsp. astrifaciens subsp. nov., three nematopathogenic bacteria isolated from Caenorhabditis, with an emended description of Leucobacter celer.

Three Gram-stain-positive, irregular-rod-shaped, non-motile, non-spore-forming bacteria were isolated from nematodes collected from Santa Antao, Cabo Verde (CBX151T, CBX152T) and Kakegawa, Japan (CBX130T). Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, strains CBX130T, CBX151T and CBX152T were shown to belong to the genus Leucobacter. This affiliation was supported by chemotaxonomic data (2,4-diaminobutyric acid in the cell wall; major respiratory quinones MK-10 and MK-11; major polar lipids phosphatidylglycerol and diphosphatidylglycerol; major fatty acids anteiso-C15 : 0, anteiso-C17 : 0 and iso-C16 : 0). Strains CBX130T and CBX152T were found to share salient characteristics. Based on morphological, physiological, chemotaxonomic and biochemical analysis, strain CBX152T represents a novel species of the genus Leucobacter, for which the name Leucobacter musarum sp. nov. (type strain CBX152T = DSM 27160T = CIP 110721T) is proposed. Two subspecies of Leucobacter musarum sp. nov. are proposed: Leucobacter musarum sp. nov. subsp. musarum subsp. nov. (type strain CBX152T = DSM 27160T = CIP 110721T) and Leucobacter musarum sp. nov. subsp. japonicus subsp. nov. (type strain CBX130T = DSM 27158T = CIP 110719T). The third novel strain, CBX151T, showed genetic similarities with Leucobacter celer NAL101T indicating that these strains belong to the same species. Based on morphological, physiological, chemotaxonomic and biochemical differences it is proposed to split the species Leucobacter celer into two novel subspecies, Leucobacter celer subsp. celer subsp. nov. (type strain NAL101T = KACC 14220T = JCM 16465T) and Leucobacter celer subsp. astrifaciens subsp. nov. (type strain CBX151T = DSM 27159T = CIP 110720T), and to emend the description of Leucobacter celerShin et al. 2011.