Genomic analysis of five novel, formerly-uncultivable oral bacteria belonging to the family Peptostreptococcaceae

• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2047/d20005091

According to the Human Oral Microbiome Database, approximately 700 prokaryotic species are present in the human oral cavity; 49% of these are cultivable and officially named, 17% are cultivable and unnamed, and 34% are a part of uncultivated phylotypes (Chen et al., 2010; Dewhirst et al., 2010). Cultivation of oral bacteria is important because a better understanding of their physiology could help in treating such pathologies as periodontal disease; between 2009 and 2010, approximately 47.2% of adults age 30 and up had periodontitis (Thornton-Evans et al., 2013). In our laboratory, five oral bacteria, that were formerly classified as uncultivable, were cultivated from anaerobic enrichments from the subgingival cavities of healthy human subjects as part of the Human Microbiome Project (Sizova et al., 2012). Isolates were originally designated as Eubacteriaceae bacterium ACC19a, CM2, CM5, OBRC8 and Eubacterium sp. AS15. They have since been renamed as Peptostreptococcaceae spp. ACC19a, CM2, CM5, OBRC8, and AS15. The first three isolates were sequenced at the BROAD Institute and the latter two at the JCVI.