Yersinia antarctica sp. nov., isolated from an Antarctic insect - expanding the genus into polar ecosystems.

Authors

Anne-Sophie Le Guern, Matan Shelomi, Tetiana Bahlai, Laura Guichard, Carine Martins, Javier Pizarro-Cerda, Cyril Savin

Published in

International journal of systematic and evolutionary microbiology. Volume 76. Issue 8.

Abstract

Five Gram-negative strains, designated BI01^T, BI02, BI1211, BI4D and BI67 isolated from the gut of the Antarctic endemic insect Belgica antarctica, were characterized by a polyphasic approach. Comparative 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that the bacterial strains belonged to the genus Yersinia. A cgMLST-based phylogeny based on 500 concatenated core genes strongly supported a clade encompassing the 5 strains that was distinct from the currently recognized 27 species of the genus Yersinia. Average nucleotide identity (ANI) among the five strains consistently exceeded 99%, but comparisons to their closest relative, Yersinia intermedia, yielded an ANI of 93% and a digital DNA-DNA hybridization value of 51.74. Metabolic profiling further differentiated the five strains from other closely related species within the genus Yersinia, notably with respect to l-fucose and potassium 2-ketogluconate fermentation, acetoin production and an absence of pyrazinamidase activity. Interestingly, three of the five strains exhibited resistance to β-lactams (amoxicillin and amoxicillin/clavulanate) and first- and second-generation cephalosporins (cefalexin and cefoxitin) associated with the presence of the ampC gene, encoding a class C beta-lactamase, in their genome. None of the five isolates harbour the classic virulence determinants of enteropathogenic Yersinia. The DNA G+C content of the five strains is 47.8 mol%. Based on these results, they represent a novel species of the genus Yersinia, for which the name Yersinia antarctica sp. nov. is proposed. Notably, this represents the first Yersinia species reported from Antarctic terrestrial invertebrates. The type strain is BI01^T (=CIP 112622^T=DSM 121309^T). The distribution of this species is not limited to Antarctica, as few publicly available genomes indicate its presence in continental Russia and the Russian Arctic, with isolates recovered from rodents, polar bears and birds.

PMID:
42574056
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 10 Aug 2026.

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