Flavobacterium gelidilacus sp. nov., isolated from microbial mats in Antarctic lakes

Twenty-two isolates from microbial mats in eastern Antarctic lakes showed similar fatty acid compositions and were investigated further using a polyphasic taxonomic approach. Repetitive extragenic palindromic DNA-PCR fingerprinting of the 22 strains revealed three groups, and DNA-DNA hybridizations between representatives showed more than 87 % DNA-DNA reassociation with each other. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis placed two representative strains, LMG 21477(T) and LMG 21619, within the genus Flavobacterium, with 95.1 % sequence similarity to Flavobacterium flevense, 95.0 % to Flavobacterium tegetincola, less than 95 % to other Flavobacterium species and less than 90 % to representatives of other genera. The name Flavobacterium gelidilacus sp. nov. is proposed, with LMG 21477(T) (=DSM 15343(T)) as the type strain, and a description of the species is given on the basis of morphological, biochemical and physiological characteristics and fatty acid composition. The G+C content of the genomic DNA is 30.0-30.4 mol%.