Flavobacterium ureilyticum sp. nov., a novel urea hydrolysing bacterium isolated from stream bank soil.

Abstract

A novel bacterium designated S-42T was isolated from stream bank soil. Cells were found to be aerobic, Gram staining-negative, oxidase-positive, catalase-negative, non-motile, non-spore-forming, rod-shaped, and yellow-pigmented. The strain can grow at 15-35°C, pH 6.0-10.0, and at 0.5% (w/v) NaCl concentration. Urea was hydrolysed. Flexirubin-type pigments were absent. Phylogenetic analysis based on its 16S rRNA gene sequence revealed that strain S-42T formed a lineage within the family Flavobacteriaceae of the phylum Bacteroidetes that is distinct from various species of the genus Flavobacterium, including Flavobacterium maotaiense T9T (97.6% sequence similarity), Flavobacterium hibernum ATCC 51468T (97.4%), and Flavobacterium granuli Kw05T (97.1%). The 16S rRNA gene sequences identity between strain S-42T and other members of the genus Flavobacterium were < 97.0%. Strain S-42T contains MK-6 as sole respiratory quinone. The major polar lipids were identified as phosphatidylethanolamine and an unidentified aminolipid. The major cellular fatty acids were identified as iso-C15:0, summed feature 3 (C16:1ω7c and/or C16: 1ω6c), C16:0, anteiso-C15:0, iso-C17:0 3-OH, iso-C15:0 3-OH, and iso-C15:1 G. The DNA G + C content of the strain was 35.8mol%. The polyphasic characterization indicated that strain S-42T represents a novel species of the genus Flavobacterium, for which the name Flavobacterium ureilyticum sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is S-42T (= KEMB 9005-537T = KACC 19115T = NBRC 112683T).