Pontibacter aydingkolensis sp. nov., isolated from soil of a salt lake

A Gram-stain-negative, short rod-shaped and light-red-pigmented bacterium, designated XAAS-1T, was isolated from the soil of Aydingkol Lake near the Turpan City, Xinjiang, China. The isolate was positive for oxidase, catalase and hydrolysis of starch, casein, gelatin and aesculin. The sole respiratory quinone was MK-7 and the principal cellular fatty acids were iso-C15 : 0 and C15 : 0 3-OH. The major polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine, one unidentified phospholipid and two unidentified polar lipids. The polyamine pattern was found to contain mainly sym-homospermidine. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis indicated that strain XAAS-1T belongs to the genus Pontibacter in the family Cytophagaceae, with sequence similarities ranging from 93.8 to 96.7 % with other type species of the genus Pontibacter. On the basis of phenotypic and genotypic data, strain XAAS-1T represents a novel species of the genus Pontibacter, for which the name Pontibacter aydingkolensis sp. nov. (type strain XAAS-1T=CCTCC AB 2016134T=JCM 31442T) is proposed.