Flavobacterium naphthae sp. nov., isolated from oil-contaminated soil

During a study of petroleum hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria, a yellow-coloured, Gram-stain-negative, non-motile and rod-shaped bacterium, designated strain Brt-M^T, was isolated from oil-contaminated soil of Biratnagar, Morang, Nepal. Strain Brt-M^T was able to grow at 15-45 °C, pH 5.0-9.0 and 0-1 % (w/v) NaCl concentration. The strain was characterized by multiple taxonomic approaches. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, strain Brt-M^T belonged to the genus Flavobacterium and shared highest sequence similarity with Flavobacterium cloacae wh15^T (95.69 %) and Flavobacterium anatoliense MK3^T (94.91 %). The only respiratory quinone was MK-6; the major polar lipid was phosphatidylethanolamine; and the predominant fatty acids were iso-C15 : 0, summed feature 9 (iso-C17 : 1ω9c and/or C16 : 010-methyl), iso-C17 : 0 3-OH and summed feature 3 (C16 : 1ω7c and/or C16 : 1ω6c). The DNA G+C content was 37.2 mol%. The morphological, physiological, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic analyses clearly distinguished this strain from its closest phylogenetic neighbours. Thus, strain Brt-M^T represents a novel species of the genus Flavobacterium, for which the name Flavobacteriumnaphthae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is Brt-M^T (=KEMB 9005-692^T=KACC 19393^T=JCM 32171^T).