Leuconostoc miyukkimchii sp. nov., isolated from brown algae (Undaria pinnatifida) kimchi

Abstract

A Gram-staining-positive, non-motile and non-spore-forming lactic acid bacterium, designated strain M2T, was isolated from fermented brown algae (Undaria pinnatifida) kimchi in South Korea. Cells of the isolate were facultatively anaerobic ovoids and showed catalase- and oxidase-negative reactions. Growth of strain M2T was observed at 4–35 °C and at pH 5.0–9.0. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 42.5 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain M2T belonged to the genus Leuconostoc and was most closely related to Leuconostoc inhae IH003T, Leuconostoc kimchii IH25T, Leuconostoc gasicomitatum LMG 18811T, Leuconostoc gelidum DSM 5578T, Leuconostoc palmae TMW2.694T and Leuconostoc holzapfelii BFE 7000T with 98.9 %, 98.8 %, 98.8 %, 98.7 %, 98.5 % and 98.2 % sequence similarity, respectively. DNA–DNA hybridization values between strain M2T and Leuconostoc inhae KACC 12281T, Leuconostoc kimchii IH25T, Leuconostoc gelidum KACC 12256T, Leuconostoc gasicomitatum KACC 13854T, Leuconostoc palmae DSM 21144T and Leuconostoc holzapfelii DSM 21478T were 13.8±3.2 %, 14.3±3.4 %, 9.9±1.0 %, 13.2±0.8 %, 22.4±4.9 % and 16.2±4.6 %, respectively, which allowed differentiation of strain M2T from the closely related species of the genus Leuconostoc . On the basis of phenotypic and molecular properties, strain M2T represents a novel species in the genus Leuconostoc , for which the name Leuconostoc miyukkimchii sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is M2T ( = KACC 15353T  = JCM 17445T).