Flavobacterium terrae sp. nov. and Flavobacterium cucumis sp. nov., isolated from greenhouse soil

Abstract

Two bacterial strains, R2A1-13T and R2A45-3T, were isolated from greenhouse soils in Korea. The cells of both strains were Gram-negative, aerobic and rod-shaped. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis placed the isolates in the genus Flavobacterium within the family Flavobacteriaceae. Strain R2A1-13T was found to be related to Flavobacterium columnare IAM 14301T, Flavobacterium saliperosum CGMCC1.3801T and Flavobacterium croceum EMB47T, with sequence similarities of 96.8, 95.0 and 94.6 %, respectively. Strain R2A45-3T was found to be related to F. croceum EMB47T and Flavobacterium aquatile ATCC 11947T, with sequence similarities of 94.7 and 94.6 %, respectively. Both strains contained iso-C15 : 0 and iso-C16 : 0 as the main fatty acids and contained a menaquinone with six isoprene units (MK-6) as the major isoprenoid quinone. The G+C contents of the DNA from strains R2A1-13T and R2A45-3T were 34 and 38 mol%, respectively. A polyphasic taxonomic study revealed that these strains belong to two novel species within the genus Flavobacterium, for which the names Flavobacterium terrae sp. nov. and Flavobacterium cucumis sp. nov. are proposed. The type strains of F. terrae sp. nov. and F. cucumis sp. nov. are R2A1-13T (=KACC 11731T=DSM 18829T) and R2A45-3T (=KACC 11732T=DSM 18830T), respectively.