Flavobacterium ureilyticum sp nov., a novel urea hydrolysing bacterium isolated from stream bank soil

A novel bacterium designated S-42(T) was isolated from stream bank soil. Cells were found to be aerobic, Gram staining-negative, oxidase-positive, catalase-negative, non-motile, non-spore-forming, rod-shaped, and yellow-pigmented. The strain can grow at 15-35 degrees C, pH 6.0-10.0, and at 0.5% (w/v) NaCl concentration. Urea was hydrolysed. Flexirubin-type pigments were absent. Phylogenetic analysis based on its 16S rRNA gene sequence revealed that strain S-42(T) formed a lineage within the family Flavobacteriaceae of the phylum Bacteroidetes that is distinct from various species of the genus Flavobacterium, including Flavobacterium maotaiense T9(T) (97.6% sequence similarity), Flavobacterium hibernum ATCC 51468(T) (97.4%), and Flavobacterium granuli Kw05(T) (97.1%). The 16S rRNA gene sequences identity between strain S-42(T) and other members of the genus Flavobacterium were < 97.0%. Strain S-42(T) contains MK-6 as sole respiratory quinone. The major polar lipids were identified as phosphatidylethanolamine and an unidentified aminolipid. The major cellular fatty acids were identified as iso-C-15:0, summed feature 3 (C(16:1)7c and/or C(16: 1)6c), C-16:0, anteiso-C-15:0, iso-C-17:0 3-OH, iso-C-15:0 3-OH, and iso-C-15:1 G. The DNA G+C content of the strain was 35.8mol%. The polyphasic characterization indicated that strain S-42(T) represents a novel species of the genus Flavobacterium, for which the name Flavobacterium ureilyticum sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is S-42(T) (=KEMB 9005-537(T)=KACC 19115(T)=NBRC 112683(T)).