Flavobacterium beibuense sp. nov., isolated from marine sediment

A taxonomic study was carried out on strain F44-8(T), which was isolated from a crude-oil-degrading consortium, enriched from marine sediment of the Beibu Gulf, PR China. The 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain F44-8(T) showed highest similarities to those of Flavobacterium frigoris LMG 21922(T) (93.3%), Flavobacterium terrae R2A1-13(T) (93.3%) and Flavobacterium gelidilacus LMG 21477(T) (93.1%). Sequence similarities to other members of the genus Flavobacterium were <93.0%. The dominant fatty acids of strain F44-8(T) were iso-C-15:0, summed feature 3 (iso-C-15:0 2-OH and/or C-16:1 omega 7c), iso-C-15:1 G and iso-C-17:0 3-OH. The DNA G+C content of strain F44-8(T) was 38.6 mol%. These results are consistent with characteristics of members of the genus Flavobacterium. Strain F44-8(T) could, however, be readily distinguished from all known Flavobacterium species by a number of phenotypic features. Therefore, according to the phenotypic and 16S rRNA gene sequence data, strain F44-8(T) represents a novel species in the genus Flavobacterium, for which the name Flavobacterium beibuense sp. nov. is proposed (type strain F44-8(T) =CCTCC AB 209067(T) =LMG 25233(T) =MCCC 1A02877(T)).