Cryobacterium melibiosiphilum sp. nov., a psychrophilic bacterium isolated from glacier ice

A psychrophilic, Gram-stain-positive, rod-shaped bacterium, designated Hh39 T , was isolated from Xinjiang No. 1 glacier in PR China. Strain Hh39 T was catalase-positive, oxidase-negative and could grow at 0-18 °C, pH 6.0-11.0 and in the presence of 0-2.5 % (w/v) NaCl. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain Hh39 T belonged to the genus Cryobacterium . The highest level of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities were found to the type strains of Cryobacterium levicorallinum (99.01 %), Cryobacterium luteum (98.90 %), Cryobacterium aureum (98.90 %) and Cryobacterium roopkundense (98.75 %). However, the low average nucleotide identity (80.65-81.89 %) and digital DNA-DNA hybridization values (22.1-23.8 %) between strain Hh39 T and its four closest relatives indicated that it represents a novel species of the genus Cryobacterium . The predominant fatty acids were anteiso-C 15:0 , anteiso-C 15:1 , iso-C 16:0 and anteiso-C 17:0 . The major menaquinone was MK-10. The polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, one unidentified lipid and one unidentified glycolipid. On the basis of results of phenotypic, genotypic and phylogenetic analyses, a novel species, Cryobacterium melibiosiphilum sp. nov., is proposed, with Hh39 T (=NBRC 107884 T =CGMCC 1.11212 T ) as the type strain.