Two strains of the genus Acinetobacter, named WCHAc-
010005 and WCHAc010052, were isolated from hospital
sewage at West China Hospital in Chengdu, China. The two
strains were found to be resistant to carbapenems due to the
presence of carbapenemase gene blaNDM-1. Based on the comparative
analysis of the rpoB sequence, the two strains formed
a strongly supported and internally coherent cluster (intracluster
identity of 98.7%), which was clearly separated from
all known Acinetobacter species (≤ 83.4%). The two strains
also formed a tight and distinct cluster based on the genuswide
comparison of whole-cell mass fingerprints generated
by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. In addition, the combination
of their ability to assimilate malonate but not benzoate,
and the inability to grow at 37°C could distinguish the
two strains from all known Acinetobacter species. The two
strains were subjected to whole genome sequencing using
both short-read Illumina HiSeq2500 platform and the longread
MinION sequencer. The average nucleotide identity and
in silico DNA-DNA hybridization value between the genomes
of WCHAc010005 and WCHAc010052 was 96.69% and 74.3%
respectively, whereas those between the two genomes and the
known Acinetobacter species were < 80% and < 30%, respectively.
Therefore, the two strains represent a novel species of
the genus Acinetobacter, for which the name Acinetobacter
chinensis sp. nov. is proposed, and the type strain is WCHAc-
010005T (= GDMCC 1.1232T = KCTC 62813T).