Legionella tunisiensis sp nov and Legionella massiliensis sp nov., isolated from environmental water samples

Two isolates of intra-amoeba-growing bacteria, LegA(T) (=DSM 24804(T)=CSUR P146(T)) and LegM(T) (=DSM 24805(T)=CSUR P145(T)), were characterized on the basis of microscopic appearance, staining characteristics, axenic growth at different temperatures and the sequences of the mip, rpoB, 16S rRNA and rnpb genes, as well as the 23S-5S region. Phylogenetic analysis showed that these two isolates lay within the radius of the family Legionellaceae. Furthermore, the analysis of these genes yielded congruent data that indicated that, although strain LegM(T) clusters specifically with Legionella feeleii ATCC 35072(T) and LegA(T) clusters with Legionella nautarum ATCC 49596(T), the divergence observed between these species was greater than that observed between other members of the family. Taken together, these results support the proposal that these two isolates represent novel members of the genus Legionella, and we propose to name them Legionella tunisiensis sp. nov. for LegM(T) (=DSM 24805(T)=CSUR P145(T)) and Legionella massiliensis sp. nov. for LegA(T) (=DSM 24804(T)=CSUR P146(T)).