Chitinimonas lacunae sp. nov., isolated from artificial pond in Korea

A gram-negative, rod shaped bacterium designated as strain H2^T was isolated from an artificial pond in Korea. The strain H2^T was able to grow aerobically and anaerobically with optimal growth occurring at 30 °C and pH 7.0 under aerobic conditions. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that the strain H2^T belonged to the genus Chitinimonas of the family Burkholderiaceae. Phylogenetic similarity calculated from 16S rRNA gene sequences of strain H2^T and valid species belongs to the genus Chitinimonas ranged from 93.2 % (for Chitinimonas taiwanensis cf^T) to 94.4 % (for Chitinimonas prasina LY03^T), and strain H2^T formed a tight monophyletic group with them. Predominant fatty acids were C16 : 0 and summed feature 3, which consisted of C16 : 1ω6c and/or C16 : 1ω7c. The major respiratory quinone of the strain H2^T was ubiquinone-8, and DNA G+C content was 60.2 %. The polar lipids consisted of phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, unidentified aminolipid, and unidentified phospholipid. The biochemical characteristics that distinguished strain H2^T from other Chitinimonas species included positive cystine arylamidase activity and lacked α-chymotrypsin and β-glucosidase (aesculin hydrolysis) activity. In addition, reciprocal DNA-DNA relatedness between H2^T and three Chitinimonas strains ranged from 32.0 to 43.7 %. On the basis of its phylogenetic, chemotaxonomic, and genotypic characteristics, strain H2^T represents a novel species of the genus Chitinimonas. Chitinimonas lacunae sp. nov. is proposed with the type strain H2^T (=KCTC 52574^T=LMG 29894^T).