Abstract

A Gram-stain-negative, non-motile, strictly aerobic, yellowpigmented bacterium, designated strain 5G38T, was isolated from a field cultivated with Chinese cabbage in Korea. The strain grew at 5–40°C and at pH 6.0–8.0. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed that strain 5G38T represented a distinct lineage within the family Sphingobacteriaceae and showed the highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity of 95.2% with Pedobacter koreensis WPCB189T, followed by Pedobacter agri PB92T (94.6%), Pedobacter suwonensis 15-52T (94.4%), Pedobacter rhizosphaerae 01-96T (94.4%), Pedobacter sandarakinus DS-27T (94.4%), and Nubsella zeaxanthinifaciens TDMA-5T (94.3%). Strain 5G38T formed monophyletic clade with Nubsella zeaxanthinifaciens in the cluster comprised of species of the genus Pedobacter. Chemotaxonomic characteristics of the novel strains, including DNA G+C content of genomic DNA (37.0 mol%), the predominant respiratory quinine (MK-7), and the major fatty acids which were iso-C15:0, summed feature 3 (comprising C16:1ω7c and/or iso-C15:0 2-OH) and iso-C17:0 3-OH, are similar to those of the genus Pedobacter. However, the novel strains can be distinguished from the other species of Pedobacter by physiological properties. The name Pedobacter namyangjuensis sp. nov. is therefore proposed for strain 5G38T (KACC 13938T =NBRC 107692T) as the type strain. Furthermore, the reclassification of Nubsella zeaxanthinifaciens as Pedobacter zeaxanthinifaciens comb. nov. is proposed.

• Keywords: Pedobacter namyangjuensis sp. nov.; Chinese cabbage soil; taxonomy