A report of 42 unrecorded bacterial species isolated from fish intestines and clams in freshwater environments

Abstract

Nine fish and one clam species were collected from freshwater environments in Korea, including four lakes, two streams, and the Nakdong River, to investigate the host-associated bacteria. Hundreds of bacterial strains were isolated from the samples using a cell sorter and a dilution plating method. After identification of the bacterial strains using 16S rRNA gene sequences, 42 strains with greater than 98.7% sequence similarity with validly published species were determined to be unrecorded bacterial species in Korea. These strains were phylogenetically diverse and assigned to four phyla, six classes, 17 orders, 27 families, and 32 genera. At the genus level, the unrecorded species were classified as Corynebacterium, Mycobacterium, Mycolicibacterium, Gordonia, Williamsia, Modestobacter, Brachybacterium, Sanquibacter, Arthrobacter, and Mycolicibacterium of the class Actinobacteria; Empedobacter, and Flavobacterium of the class Flavobacteriia; Fictibacillus, Psychrobacillus, Cohnella, Paenibacillus, Rummeliibacillus, Enterococcus, and Vagococcus of the class Bacilli; Aquamicrobium, Paracoccus, and Sphingomonas of the class Alphaproteobacteria; Achromobacter, Delftia, and Deefgea of the class Betaproteobacteria; and Aeromonas, Providencia, Yersinia, Marinomonas, Acinetobacter, and Pseudomonas of the class Gammaproteobacteria. The 42 unrecorded species were subjected to further taxonomic characterization using gram staining, cellular and colony morphological determination, biochemical analyses, and phylogenetic analyses. This paper provides detailed descriptions of the 42 previously unrecorded bacterial species.