Chryseobacterium reticulitermitis sp nov., isolated from the gut of Reticulitermes aculabialis

A Gram-stain-negative, non-motile, aerobic and rod-shaped bacterium, strain Ra1(T), was isolated from the gut of a wood-feeding lower termite, Reticulitermes aculabialis. Phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that the strain was closely related to Chryseobacterium rigui JCM 18078(T) (96.7% similarity). Growth was observed at 15-45 degrees C (optimum 30 degrees C), at pH 6.0-9.0 (optimum pH 8.0) and in the presence of 0-2% (w/v) NaCl (optimum 0 %). The DNA G+C content of strain Ra1(T) was 39.9 mol%. Cells contained menaquinone MK-6 as the sole respiratory quinone and the major fatty acids were iso-C-15 (:) (0), iso-C-17 : 0, summed feature 3 (comprising C(16 : 1 omega)6c and/or C-16 : 1 omega 7c) and summed feature 9 (comprising C-16 : 0 10-methyl and/or iso-C-17 : (1)omega 9c). The predominant polyamine was sym-homospermidine. The cellular polar lipids consisted of one phosphatidylethanolamine, three unidentified aminolipids, one unidentified phospholipid and one unidentified lipid. Based on phenotypic, genotypic and phylogenetic studies, it is concluded that strain Ra1(T) represents a novel species of the genus Chryseobacterium, for which the name Chryseobacterium reticulitermitis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is Ra1(T) (=CCTCC AB 2015431(T) = KCTC 52230(T)).