Chryseobacterium yeoncheonense sp nov., with ginsenoside converting activity isolated from soil of a ginseng field

A Gram-staining negative, aerobic, non-motile, non-flagellate, yellow-pigmented, rod-shaped bacterial strain, designated strain DCY67(T), was isolated from ginseng field in Republic of Korea. Strain DCY67(T) contained beta-glucosidase activity which converts ginsenoside Rb1 to compound K. Optimum growth of DCY67(T) occurred at 30 A degrees C and pH 6.0-6.5. Analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain DCY67(T) belonged to the family Flavobacteriaceae and was most closely related to Chryseobacterium ginsenosidimutans THG 15(T) (97.5 %). The genomic DNA G+C content was 36.1 mol%. The predominant quinones were MK-6 (90.9 %) and MK-7 (9.15 %). The major fatty acids were iso-C-15:0, summed feature 3 (containing C-16:1 omega 7c and/or C-16:1 omega 6c) and iso-C-17:0 3-OH. On the basis of these phenotypic, genotypic and chemotaxonomic studies, strain DCY67(T) represents a novel species of the genus Chryseobacterium, for which, name Chryseobacterium yeoncheonense sp. nov. proposed the type strain is DCY67(T) (=KCTC 32090(T) = JCM 18516(T)).