Emticicia lacicola sp. nov., isolated from a freshwater reservoir

A novel Gram-stain-negative, rod-shaped, non-motile, and orange-pigmented bacterium, designated strain 24SJ17W-69^T, was isolated from freshwater collected from Jeongdo Reservoir, Republic of Korea, in March 2024. 16 S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed that the isolate belongs to the genus Emticicia, showing the highest similarity to E. aquatica HMF2925^T (97.33%). Whole-genome sequencing yielded a 6.15 Mbp genome with a DNA G + C content of 34.8 mol %. Average nucleotide identity (ANI, 78.8%) and digital DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH, 22.0%) values with the closest relatives were below the species thresholds, clearly supporting its classification as a distinct species (Chun et al. 2018). Growth occurred at 4 ~ 30 °C, pH 6.0 ~ 8.0, and in the absence of NaCl. The predominant respiratory quinone was menaquinone-7 (MK-7). The major polar lipids consisted of phosphatidylethanolamine, two unidentified aminolipids, and five unidentified polar lipids. The dominant fatty acids were summed feature 3 (C_16:1 ω6c and/or C_16:1 ω7c) and C_15:0. Based on polyphasic taxonomic analyses, strain 24SJ17W-69^T represents a novel species of the genus Emticicia, for which the name Emticicia lacicola sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is 24SJ17W-69^T (= KCTC 102529^T =LMG 34446^T =FBCC B20691^T).