Chryseobacterium gregarium sp nov., isolated from decaying plant material

In this study, strain P 461/12(T), isolated from decaying plant material after mulching a pasture, was shown to represent a novel species of the genus Chryseobacterium by means of a polyphasic approach. The closest phylogenetic neighbours to the novel strain, as determined by 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, were Chryseobacterium daeguense K105(T) and Chryseobacterium soldanellicola PSD1-4(T) with gene sequence similarities of 97.4% and 97.2%, respectively. Strain P 461/12(T) could be differentiated by means of its RiboPrint pattern from the type strains of all recognized Chryseobacterium species belonging to the same cluster as determined by 16S rRNA gene sequence comparisons. The nearest phylogenetic neighbours, and in particular the closest relatives C. daeguense and C. soldanellicola, could be distinguished from the novel isolate by means of several physiological features and also by the remarkably lower proportion of anteiso-C(15:0) in the whole-cell fatty acid profile. Based on these findings, the new isolate represents a novel species, for which the name Chryseobacterium gregarium sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is P 461/12(T) (=DSM 19109(T)=LMG 24052(T)).