Novel environmental species isolated from the plaster wall surface of mural paintings in the Takamatsuzuka tumulus: Bordetella muralis sp. nov., Bordetella tumulicola sp. nov. and Bordetella tumbae sp. nov.

Researchers have discovered three novel species of the genus Bordetella—Bordetella muralis, Bordetella tumulicola, and Bordetella tumbae—isolated from 1300-year-old mural paintings within the Takamatsuzuka tumulus in Japan. These Gram-stain-negative coccobacilli, identified using polyphasic analysis including 16S rRNA gene sequencing, fatty acid profiling, and DNA-DNA hybridization, represent new lineages within the Bordetella genus. The findings suggest that these bacteria may be ubiquitous in environmental settings like soil or water, expanding our understanding of microbial diversity in ancient and natural habitats.

Tazato, N., Handa, Y., Nishijima, M., Kigawa, R., Sano, C., & Sugiyama, J. (2015). Novel environmental species isolated from the plaster wall surface of mural paintings in the Takamatsuzuka tumulus: Bordetella muralis sp. nov., Bordetella tumulicola sp. nov. and Bordetella tumbae sp. nov. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, 65(Pt_12), 4830–4838. https://doi.org/10.1099/ijsem.0.000655