Pedobacter lentus sp. nov. and Pedobacter terricola sp. nov., isolated from soil

Two Gram-negative, non-motile, pleomorphic bacterial strains, DS-40^T and DS-45^T, were isolated from a soil sample collected from Dokdo, Korea, and their exact taxonomic positions were investigated by using a polyphasic approach. Strains DS-40^T and DS-45^T grew optimally at 25 °C and pH 6.5-7.5 in the presence of 0-1.0% (w/v) NaCl. They contained MK-7 as the predominant menaquinone and possessed iso-C_15:0, iso-C_17:0 3-OH and summed feature 3 (C_16:1ω7c and/or iso-C_15:0 2-OH) as the major fatty acids. The DNA G+C contents of strains DS-40^T and DS-45^T were 36.0 and 36.8 mol%, respectively. Strains DS-40^T and DS-45^T shared a 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity of 96.7% and demonstrated a mean DNA-DNA relatedness level of 12%. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strains DS-40^T and DS-45^T were most closely phylogenetically affiliated with the genus Pedobacter of the family Sphingobacteriaceae. Strains DS-40^T and DS-45^T exhibited 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity values of 91.4-93.7 and 89.9-91.6% with respect to the type strains of Pedobacter and Sphingobacterium species, respectively. Phenotypic and chemotaxonomic properties, together with the phylogenetic data, support the assignment of strains DS-40^T and DS-45^T as two distinct species within the genus Pedobacter. On the basis of phenotypic, phylogenetic and genetic data, strains DS-40^T and DS-45^T represent two novel species of the genus Pedobacter, for which the names Pedobacter lentus sp. nov. and Pedobacter terricola sp. nov. are proposed, respectively. The respective type strains are DS-40^T (=KCTC 12875^T=JCM 14593^T) and DS-45^T (=KCTC 12876^T=JCM 14594^T).