Mycobacterium arupense sp. nov., a novel moderately growing nonchromogenic bacterium isolated from clinical specimens

This author manuscript discusses how several isolates of Mycobacterium species related to the M. terrae complex have been isolated from clinical samples. In the clinical microbiology laboratory, partial 16S rRNA gene sequencing (approximate first 500 base pairs) is often used to identify Mycobacterium species rather than full 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Partial 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed 100% identity between 65 clinical isolates and Mycobacterium species MCRO 6 (GenBank accession no. X93032). Even after sequencing the nearly full 16S rRNA gene, the closest match to an existing type strain is only 99.6% similar to M. nonchromogenicum (ATCC 19530T). Sequencing of the nearly full 16S rRNA gene, the 16S-23S internal transcribed spacer region, and the hsp65 gene did not reveal genotypic identity with the type strains of M. nonchromogenicum, M. terrae, or M. triviale.