Chitinimonas koreensis sp. nov., isolated from greenhouse soil in Korea

Strain R2A43-10(T) was isolated from a greenhouse soil in Korea. Cells were Gram-negative rods, motile by means of a single flagellum. Growth occurred at 10-40 degrees C and at pH 5-8. Ubiquinone-8 (Q-8) was the only respiratory lipoquinone. Major fatty acids were summed feature 3 (C(16 : 1)omega7c and/or iso-C(15 : 0) 2-OH) and C(16 : 0). 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed that strain R2A43-10(T) was closely related to Chitinimonas taiwanensis cf(T) (sequence similarity of 94.8 %), but it exhibited low sequence similarities (<92 %) to other members of the Betaproteobacteria. The G+C content of the genomic DNA of strain R2A43-10(T) was 65.0 mol%. The novel isolate could be differentiated from C. taiwanensis cf(T) by several physiological properties. On the basis of genomic and phenotypic data, it is concluded that R2A43-10(T) (=KACC 11467(T)=DSM 17726(T)) is the type strain of a novel species of the genus Chitinimonas, for which the name Chitinimonas koreensis sp. nov. is proposed.