Chryseobacterium panacisoli sp. nov., isolated from ginseng-cultivation soil with ginsenoside-converting activity

A Gram-stain-negative, non-motile, non-spore-forming, aerobic, rod-shaped and yellow-pigmented bacterium, designated strain Gsoil 183^T, was isolated from ginseng-cultivation soil sampled in Pocheon Province, Republic of Korea. This bacterium was characterized to determine its taxonomic position by using a polyphasic approach. Strain Gsoil 183^T grew at 10-37 °C and at pH 5.0-9.0 on tryptic soy agar. Strain Gsoil 183^T had β-glucosidase activity, which was responsible for its ability to convert ginsenoside Rb1 (one of the dominant active components of ginseng) to F2. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing, strain Gsoil 183^T clustered with species of the genus Chryseobacterium and appeared to be closely related to Chryseobacterium sediminis LMG 28695^T (99.1 % sequence similarity), Chryseobacterium lactis NCTC 11390^T (98.6%), Chryseobacterium rhizoplanae LMG 28481^T (98.6%), Chryseobacterium oncorhynchi CCUG 60105^T (98.5%), Chryseobacterium viscerum CCUG 60103^T (98.4%) and Chryseobacterium joostei DSM 16927^T (98.3%). Menaquinone MK-6 was the predominant respiratory quinone and the major fatty acids were iso-C_15 : 0, iso-C_17 : 0-3OH and summed feature 3 (C_16 : 1  ω6c and/or C_16 : 1  ω7c). The polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine, six unidentified glycolipids, five unidentified aminolipids and three unidentified lipids. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 36.6 mol%. Digital DNA-DNA hybridization between strain Gsoil 183^T and the type strains of C. sediminis, C. lactis, C. rhizoplanae, C. oncorhynchi, C. viscerum and C. joostei resulted in values below 70 %. Strain Gsoil 183^T could be differentiated genotypically and phenotypically from the recognized species of the genus Chryseobacterium. The isolate therefore represents a novel species, for which the name Chryseobacterium panacisoli sp. nov. is proposed, with the type strain Gsoil 183^T (=KACC 15033^T=LMG 23397^T).