Lactobacillus koreensis sp. nov., isolated from the traditional Korean food kimchi

Abstract

A lactic acid bacterium, strain DCY50T, isolated from the traditional Korean food kimchi, was studied to determine its taxonomic position. The strain was Gram-stain-positive, catalase-negative, facultatively anaerobic, rod-shaped and motile. The genomic DNA G+C content was 49 mol% and the peptidoglycan structure was of the A4α (l–Lys–d-Asp) type. Chemotaxonomic markers of the strain were consistent with its classification in the genus Lactobacillus. Comparisons of 16S rRNA and rpoA gene sequences showed that strain DCY50T was most closely related to the type strains of Lactobacillus parabrevis (98.4 and 91.6 % similarity, respectively, for the 16S rRNA and rpoA genes), L. hammesii (98.0 and 91.2 %), L. brevis (97.6 and 93.3 %) and L. senmaizukei (97.4 and 90.5 %). DNA–DNA relatedness of strain DCY50T to these type strains was below 36 %. According to the genotypic and phenotypic data, strain DCY50T could be differentiated from all known Lactobacillus species and should be classified in a novel species, for which the name Lactobacillus koreensis sp. nov. is proposed; the type strain is DCY50T ( = KCTC 13530T  = JCM 16448T).