Mucilaginibacter soli sp. nov., isolated from Arctic tundra soil

A novel pale-pink-coloured strain, designated R9-65(T), was isolated from a tundra soil near Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard Archipelago, Norway (78° N). The cells were facultatively anaerobic, Gram-staining-negative, non-motile and rod-shaped. Growth occurred at 4-32 °C (optimum, 25-28 °C), at pH 5.0-9.0 (optimum, pH 6.0-7.0) and with 0-1.0% (w/v) NaCl (optimum, no NaCl). Flexirubin-type pigments were absent. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain R9-65(T) belonged to the genus Mucilaginibacter in the family Sphingobacteriaceae. The 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity between strain R9-65(T) and type strains of related species ranged from 93.4 to 96.6%. Strain R9-65(T) contained summed feature 3 (C(16:1)ω7c and/or C(16:1)ω6c, 34.3%) and iso-C(15:0) (20.3%) as major cellular fatty acids, MK-7 as the major respiratory quinone, and phosphatidylethanolamine as the main polar lipid. The DNA G+C content of strain R9-65(T) was 47.2 mol%. On the basis of phylogenetic, physiological and chemotaxonomic data, strain R9-65(T) is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Mucilaginibacter, for which the name Mucilaginibacter soli sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is R9-65(T) (=CCTCC AB 2010331(T)=NRRL B-59458(T)).