Emticicia ginsengisoli sp. nov., a species of the family 'Flexibacteraceae' isolated from soil of a ginseng field

Abstract

A taxonomic study was carried out on Gsoil 085T, a bacterial strain isolated from a soil sample from a ginseng field in Pocheon Province (South Korea). Comparative 16S rRNA gene sequence studies showed a clear affiliation of this bacterium to the family 'Flexibacteraceae' and indicated that the closest relative was Emticicia oligotrophica GPTSA100-15T (94.6 % sequence similarity). Lower sequence similarities (<83.0 %) were found with respect to all other recognized species of the family 'Flexibacteraceae'. Strain Gsoil 085T was found to be Gram-negative, strictly aerobic, non-motile and rod-shaped. It grew well on half-strength R2A medium but did not utilize a broad range of carbon sources. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 40.5 mol%. The major fatty acids were summed feature 4 (iso-C15 : 0 2-OH and/or C16 : 1omega7c, 45.4 %), iso-C15 : 0 (13.9 %), C16 : 1omega5c (8.6 %) and C16 : 0 (8.2 %). On the basis of evidence from the polyphasic study, strain Gsoil 085T represents a novel species of the genus Emticicia, for which the name Emticicia ginsengisoli sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is Gsoil 085T (=KCTC 12588T =LMG 23396T).