Hafnia psychrotolerans sp. nov., isolated from lake water

Abstract

A psychrotolerant, Gram-stain-negative, motile, aerobic, peritrichous bacterium, strain DJC1-1T, was isolated from Lake Dajiaco, Tibetan Plateau, China. The strain was negative for citrate utilization, lipase activity and α-glucosidase, but positive for the Voges–Proskauer reaction and N-acetyl-β-glucosaminidase. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis indicated that Hafnia paralvei ATCC 29927T, Hafnia alvei ATCC 13337T, Serratia grimesii DSM 30063T and Serratia plymuthica DSM 4540T were the closest relatives of strain DJC1-1T, with similarities of 97.76, 96.80, 97.71 and 97.58 %, respectively. The DNA G+C content of strain DJC1-1T was 53.9 mol%. The predominant fatty acids were C16 : 0 and C17 : 0 cyclo. Based on these characteristics, strain DJC1-1T can be assigned to the genus Hafnia . In DNA–DNA hybridization tests, strain DJC1-1T shared 50.6, 35.1, 36.5 and 18.1 % DNA–DNA relatedness with the type strains of H. paralvei , H. alvei , S. grimesii and S. plymuthica , respectively. The growth temperature ranged from 0 to 40 °C, with optimum growth at 15 °C. Physiological and biochemical tests differentiated strain DJC1-1T from the type strains of recognized species of the genus Hafnia . Therefore, strain DJC1-1T is identified as representing a novel species of the genus Hafnia, for which the name Hafnia psychrotolerans sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is DJC1-1T ( = JCM 30077T = CGMCC1.12806T).