Flavobacterium phocarum sp. nov., isolated from soils of a seal habitat in Antarctica

A Gram-stain-negative, yellow-pigmented, non-flagellated, gliding, rod-shaped, oxidase-negative and catalase-positive bacterium, designated SE14 T , was isolated from soil on King George Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. Strain SE14 T grew at 4-25 °C (optimum, 20 °C), at pH 6.0-9.0 (optimum, pH 7.0-7.5) and with 0-3.0 % NaCl (optimum, 1.0-1.5 %), and could not produce flexirubin-type pigments. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed the the isolate belonged to the genus Flavobacterium. Strain SE14 T had the highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity to Flavobacterium antarcticum, F. tegetincola and F. degerlachei with 95.8, 95.5 and 95.2 %, respectively. The strain SE14 T consisted of a clade with Flavobacteriumnoncentrifugens (16S rRNA gene sequence similarity 94.9 %) and F. qiangtangense (16S rRNA gene sequence similarity 94.2 %) and simultaneously formed a distinct phyletic lineage in the neighbour-joining phylogenetic tree. Polar lipids of the strain included phosphatidylethanolamine and four unidentified aminolipids. Strain SE14 T contained anteiso-C15 : 0, iso-C15 : 0 and a mixture of iso-C15 : 0 2-OH and/or C16 : 1ω7c as the main fatty acids, and the only respiratory quinone was menaquinone-6. The genomic DNA G+C content was 42.3 mol%. The polyphasic taxonomic study revealed that strain SE14 T belongs to a novel species within the genus Flavobacterium , and the name Flavobacterium phocarum sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is SE14 T (=CCTCC AB 2017225 T =KCTC 52612 T ).