Arthrobacter alpinus sp. nov., a psychrophilic bacterium isolated from alpine soil

Abstract

An aerobic, Gram-reaction-positive, non-motile, psychrophilic bacterium, designated strain S6-3T, was isolated from alpine soil. Cells exhibited a rod–coccus growth cycle and produced a yellow pigment. Growth occurred at 1–25 °C. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain S6-3Twas related to members of the genusArthrobacter, sharing highest sequence similarities with the type strains ofArthrobacter psychrolactophilus(97.9 %) andArthrobacter stackebrandtii(97.6 %). Strain S6-3Thad MK-9(H2) as the major menaquinone and anteiso-C15 : 0as the major fatty acid. The cell-wall peptidoglycan was of type A3αl-Lys–l-Thr–Ala3. The predominant cell-wall sugars were galactose and rhamnose. The genomic DNA G+C content of strain S6-3Twas 61.9 mol%. On the basis of phenotypic characteristics, phylogenetic analysis and DNA–DNA relatedness data, strain S6-3Tis considered to represent a novel species of the genusArthrobacter, for which the nameArthrobacter alpinussp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is S6-3T(=DSM 22274T=CGMCC 1.8950T).