Chitinophaga qingshengii sp. nov., isolated from weathered rock surface

Abstract

A novel mineral-weathering bacterium was isolated from weathered rock (potassic trachyte) surfaces collected from Nanjing (Jiangsu, PR China). Cells of strain JN246T were Gram-stain-negative, rod-shaped and non-motile. Strain JN246T was aerobic, catalase- and oxidase-positive, and grew optimally at 28 °C and pH 7.0. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, strain JN246T belonged to the genus Chitinophaga and the closest phylogenetic relatives were Chitinophaga eiseniae YC6729T (98.5 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity), Chitinophaga terrae KP01T (96.8 %), and Chitinophaga jiangningensis JN53T (96.3 %). The major respiratory quinone was MK-7 and the major polyamine was homospermidine. The major fatty acids were iso-C15 : 0, C16 : 1ω5c, C16 : 0 and iso-C17 : 0 3-OH. The polar lipid profile of strain JN246T consisted of phosphatidylethanolamine, unknown aminolipids and unknown lipids. The genomic DNA G+C content of strain JN246T was 48.8 mol%. Based on the low level of DNA–DNA relatedness of strain JN246T (ranging from 22.6 % to 42.4 %) to the type strains of other species of the genus Chitinophaga and unique phenotypic characteristics, strain JN246T represents a novel species of the genus Chitinophaga , for which the name Chitinophaga qingshengii sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is JN246T ( = CCTCC AB 2014201T = JCM 30026T).