Pedobacter insulae sp. non., isolated from soil

A Gram-negative, non-motile, rod-shaped bacterium, DS-139^T, was isolated from a soil sample collected from Dokdo, Korea, and subjected to a polyphasic taxonomic analysis. Strain DS-139^T grow optimally at 25 °C and pH 6.5-7.5 in the presence of 0-0.5% (w/v) NaCl. It contained MK-7 as the predominant menaquinone and iso-C_15:0, C_16:1ω7c and/or iso-C_15:0 2-OH and iso-C_17:0 3-OH as the major fatty acids. The DNA G + C content was 39.4 mol%. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain DS-39^T belongs to the genus Pedobacter in the family Sphingobacteriaceae. The similarity values between the 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain DS-139^T and those of the type strains of recognized Pedobacter species, except Pedobacter saltans, were in the range 93.9-96.7%. The differential phenotypic properties, together with the phylogenetic distinctiveness, were sufficient to assign strain DS-139^T to a species that is separate from recognized Pedobacter species. On the basis of the phenotypic and phylogenetic data, therefore, strain DS-139^T represents a novel species of the genus Pedobacter, for which the name Pedobacter insulae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is DS-139^T (=KCTC 12820^T =DSM 18684^T).