Chitinophaga qingshengii sp. nov., isolated from weathered rock surface

A novel mineral-weathering bacterium was isolated from weathered rock (potassic trachyte) surfaces collected from Nanjing (Jiangsu, PR China). Cells of strain JN246(T) were Gram-stain-negative, rod-shaped and non-motile. Strain JN246(T) was aerobic, catalase- and oxidase-positive, and grew optimally at 28 °C and pH 7.0. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, strain JN246(T) belonged to the genus Chitinophaga and the closest phylogenetic relatives were Chitinophaga eiseniae YC6729(T) (98.5% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity), Chitinophaga terrae KP01(T) (96.8%), and Chitinophaga jiangningensis JN53(T) (96.3 %). The major respiratory quinone was MK-7 and the major polyamine was homospermidine. The major fatty acids were iso-C15:0, C16:1ω5c, C16:0 and iso-C17:0 3-OH. The polar lipid profile of strain JN246(T) consisted of phosphatidylethanolamine, unknown aminolipids and unknown lipids. The genomic DNA G+C content of strain JN246(T) was 48.8 mol%. Based on the low level of DNA-DNA relatedness of strain JN246(T) (ranging from 22.6% to 42.4%) to the type strains of other species of the genus Chitinophaga and unique phenotypic characteristics, strain JN246(T) represents a novel species of the genus Chitinophaga, for which the name Chitinophaga qingshengii sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is JN246(T) ( = CCTCC AB 2014201(T) = JCM 30026(T)).