Mucilaginibacterpsychrotolerans sp. nov., isolated from peatlands

A Gram-stain-negative, rod-shaped, non-flagellated, pink, cold-tolerant bacterial strain, NH7-4T, was isolated from the Riganqiao peatlands on the Tibetan Plateau. The 16S rRNA gene sequence of the novel isolate shared a pairwise similarity ranging from 96.84 to 93.02 % with type strains of species of the genus Mucilaginibacter. Growth of strain NH7-4T occurred between 0 and 30 °C and at pH 5.0-9.0, with an optimum growth temperature at 20 °C and an optimum pH for growth of approximately 7.0. The major isoprenoid quinone was MK-7. The major cellular fatty acids were summed feature 3 (C16 : 1ω7c and/or iso-C15 : 0 2-OH), iso-C15 : 0, iso-C17 : 0 3-OH, C16 : 0, iso-C15 : 0 3-OH and C16 : 1ω5c. The major polar lipid of strain NH7-4T was phosphatidylethanolamine. Strain NH7-4T did not assimilate any substrates in API 20NE strips without low concentrations of yeast extract being present and had a lower optimal growth temperature, which distinguished it from other type strains of species of the genus Mucilaginibacter. The DNA G+C content of strain NH7-4T was 48.6 mol%. Based on phylogenetic, phenotypic and chemotaxonomic data, strain NH7-4T (=JCM 30607T=CGMCC1.14937T) represents a novel species of the genus Mucilaginibacter for which the name Mucilaginibacter psychrotolerans sp. nov. is proposed.