Methylocystis rosea sp nov., a novel methanotrophic bacterium from Arctic wetland soil, Svalbard, Norway (78°N)

A Gram-negative, rod-shaped, non-motile, non-spore-forming, pink-pigmented bacterium, SV97(T), was isolated from a wetland soil near Ny-Alesund, Svalbard Islands, Norway (78 degrees N). On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, strain SV97T was shown to belong to the Alphaproteobacteria and was highly related to a number of non-characterized Methylocystis strains with GenBank accession nos AJ458507 and AJ458502 (100%) and AF177299, AJ458510, AJ458467, AJ458471, AJ431384, AJ458475, AJ458484, AJ458501 and AJ458466 (99 %). The most closely related type strains were Methylocystis parvus OBBPT (97.2%) and Methylocystis echinoides IMET 10491(T) (97 %). The closest related recognized species within the genus Methylosinus was Methylosinus sporium NCIMB 11126(T) (96-0 % similarity). Chemotaxonomic and phenotypic data (C(18:1)omega 8 as the major fatty acid, non-motile, no rosette formation) supported the affiliation of strain SV97T to the genus Methylocystis. The results of DNA-DNA hybridization and physiological and biochemical tests allowed genotypic and phenotypic differentiation of strain SV97T from the two recognized Methylocystis species. Strain SV97T therefore represents a novel species, for which the name Methylocystis rosea sp. nov. is proposed, with the type strain SV97T (=DSM 17261(T)=ATCC BAA-1196(T)).