Phenotypic and genetic relationships of so-called Moraxella (Pasteurella) anatipestifer to the Flavobacterium/Cytophaga group

So-called Moraxella (or Pasteurella) anatipestifer and members of the Flavobacterium/Cytophaga group exhibit remarkable common features: lack of flagellation, low guanine + cytosine content of the chromosomal DNA, production of menaquinones and branched-chain fatty acids, absence of carbohydrate fermentation, and similar patterns of hydrolytic enzymes. Using the renaturation method of DNA:DNA hybridization two urease-negative European isolates and the urease-positive type strain (which was isolated in the United States) of M. P. anatipestifer were shown to have about 85% of their genome DNA base sequences in common; they may represent two subspecies. The type strain of this species was neither measurably related to the type species of the genus Moraxella nor to selected members of the family Pasteurellaceae (Pohl 1981). On the other hand, low but significant degrees of DNA binding between selected strains of so-called M. anatipestifer, Cytophaga marinoflava, Flavobacterium meningosepticum, F. odoratum and F. pectinovorum were observed. On the basis of these findings the transfer of the so-called M. anatipestifer to the Flavobacterium/Cytophaga group (family Cytophagaceae) is proposed. More detailed investigations are required to establish its relationship at the genus level.