Pedobacter cryoconitis sp nov., a facultative psychrophile from alpine glacier cryoconite

On the basis of phenotypic and genotypic characteristics, a novel species belonging to the genus Pedobacter is described. A facultatively psychrophilic, Gram-negative, aerobic, rod-shaped strain, A37(T), was isolated from alpine glacier cryoconite. The non-flagellated and non-sporeforming isolate grew over a temperature range of 1-25 degreesC, showed activities of oxidase, catalase, DNase, protease (gelatin, casein), amylase, beta-glucosidase, beta-galactosidase and beta-lactamase and degraded oil hydrocarbons. A distinct optimum temperature of 15 degreesC was observed for both protease production and oil hydrocarbon biodegradation. Analysis of 16S rDNA revealed that strain A37(T) represents a distinct taxon within Pedobacter. DNA from strain A37(T) showed only 19.7 % genetic relatedness to the DNA of Pedobacter piscium. The DNA G + C content was 43.4 mol%. Dominant fatty acids (51 %) were iso-15:0 2-OH and 16:1 omega7c. The strain is assigned to a novel Pedobacter species, for which the name Pedobacter cryoconitis sp. nov. is proposed, with A37(T) (=DSM 14825(T) =LMG 21415(T)) as the type strain.