Pedobacter panaciterrae sp nov., isolated from soil in South Korea

A Gram-negative, facultatively anaerobic, rod-shaped, non-motile, non-spore-forming bacterial strain, designated Gsoil 042(T), was isolated from a soil sample of a ginseng field in Pocheon province (South Korea) and was characterized taxonomically by using a polyphasic approach. The isolate was positive for catalase and oxidase, but negative for gelatinase and production of indole and H2S. The predominant isoprenoid quinone was menaquinone 7 (MK-7). The major cellular fatty acids were summed feature 4 (C-16:1 omega 7c and/or iso-C-15:0 2-OH; 35.7%), iso-C-15:0 (24.3%) and iso-C-17:0 3-OH (11.6%). Comparative 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that strain Gsoil 042(T) fell within the radiation of the cluster comprising Pedobacter species. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities, the phylogenetically closest recognized species of the genus Pedobacter to strain Gsoil 042(T) included Pedobacter heparinus DSM 2366(T) (98.1%) Pedobacter africanus DSM 12126(T) (97.8%)and Pedobacter caeni LMG 22862(T) (97.2%) The 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with other recognized species of the genus Pedobacter was less than 96.1%. DNA-DNA hybridization experiments showed that the DNA-DNA relatedness between strain Gsoil 042(T) and its phylogenetically closest neighbours was less than 43%. On the basis of its phenotypic properties and phylogenetic distinctiveness, strain Gsoil 042(T) should be classified as representing a novel species in the genus Pedobacter, for which the name Pedobacter panaciterrae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is Gsoil 042(T) (= KCTC 12594(T) = LMG 23400(T)).