Abstract

A highly motile, medium-size, saccharolytic spirochete was isolated from an advanced human periodontal lesion in medium OMIZ-Pat supplemented with 1% human serum. The growth of this organism is dependent on either glucose, maltose, starch, or glycogen. The cells contain six endoflagella, three per pole, which overlap in the central region of the cell body. On the basis of its cell morphology and enzyme activities, as well as its sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis protein and antigen profiles, this organism is clearly distinct from all previously cultured spirochetes. The presence of a novel species is supported by the 16S rRNA sequence of this organism, which places it in phylotype 19 of Choi et al. (B. K. Choi, B. J. Paster, F. E. Dewhirst, and U. B. Göbel, Infect. Immun. 62:1889-1895, 1994). The only isolate, strain HA2P, is designated the type strain of a novel species, for which we propose the name Treponema amylovorum.