Chitinophaga solisilvae sp. nov., isolated from forest soil

A Gram-stain-negative, strictly aerobic, non-motile and rod-shaped bacterial strain, O9(T), was isolated from a forest soil sample collected at Dai, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan Province, PR China. Strain O9(T) grew optimally at pH 7.0, at 28-30 degrees C and in the absence of NaCl. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis placed strain O9(T) within the genus Chitinophaga of the family Chitinophagaceae, with Chitinophaga terrae KP01(T) (97.8%), Chitinophaga jiangningensis JN53(T) (97.7%), Chitinophaga niastensis JS16-4(T) (97.4%), Chitinophaga qingshengii JN246(T) (97.3%) and Chitinophaga dinghuensis DHOC24(T) (97.3%) as its closest relatives. Strain O9(T) hydrolysed casein, gelatin and Tween 80. It could not assimilate L-arabinose, L-rhamnose, sucrose, melibiose, gentiobiose or D-fructose as a carbon source. It was negative for esterase lipase (C8) and beta-glucosidase. Phosphatidylethanolamine was the predominant polar lipid. The major respiratory quinone of strain O9(T) was MK-7. Its major fatty acids were iso-C-15:0 (34.2%), C-16:1 omega 5c (20.9%) and iso-C(17:0 )3-OH (12.6%). The genomic DNA G+C content of strain O9(T) was 49.0 mol% based on total genome calculations. The average nucleotide identity score between the genomic sequence of strain O9(T) and that of Chitinophaga terrae KP01(T) was 72.9%. The Genome-to-Genome Distance Calculator showed that DNA-DNA hybridization values for strain O9(T) and Chitinophaga terrae KP01(T) were 13.6. 21.1 and 14.4%, respectively. Based on the polyphasic taxonomic data, strain O9(T) represents a novel species of the genus Chitinophaga, for which the name Chitinophaga solisilvae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is O9(T) (=CGMCC 1.12462(T) =KCTC 32404(T)).