Cryobacterium melibiosiphilum sp. nov., a psychrophilic bacterium isolated from glacier ice

A psychrophilic, Gram-stain-positive, rod-shaped bacterium, designated Hh39^T, was isolated from Xinjiang No. 1 glacier in PR China. Strain Hh39^T was catalase-positive, oxidase-negative and could grow at 0-18 °C, pH 6.0-11.0 and in the presence of 0-2.5 % (w/v) NaCl. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain Hh39^T belonged to the genus Cryobacterium. The highest level of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities were found to the type strains of Cryobacterium levicorallinum (99.01 %), Cryobacterium luteum (98.90 %), Cryobacterium aureum (98.90 %) and Cryobacterium roopkundense (98.75 %). However, the low average nucleotide identity (80.65-81.89 %) and digital DNA-DNA hybridization values (22.1-23.8 %) between strain Hh39^T and its four closest relatives indicated that it represents a novel species of the genus Cryobacterium. The predominant fatty acids were anteiso-C_15:0, anteiso-C_15:1, iso-C_16:0 and anteiso-C_17:0. The major menaquinone was MK-10. The polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, one unidentified lipid and one unidentified glycolipid. On the basis of results of phenotypic, genotypic and phylogenetic analyses, a novel species, Cryobacterium melibiosiphilum sp. nov., is proposed, with Hh39^T (=NBRC 107884^T=CGMCC 1.11212^T) as the type strain.