Pontibacter chitinilyticus sp. nov., a novel chitin-hydrolysing bacterium isolated from soil

A Gram-stain negative, non-motile, orange-red-pigmented, asporogenous, rod-shaped bacterial strain, designated 17gy-14(T), was isolated from a soil sample collected from a Seoul Women's University field. The strain can grow at 7-37 degrees C, pH 6.0-8.0, and can tolerate up to 5.5% (w/v) NaCl concentration. Flexirubin-type pigments were absent. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that the strain 17gy-14(T) strain belongs to the genus Pontibacter in the family Cytophagaceae with sequence similarities ranging from 95.4 to 92.9% with other type strains of the genus Pontibacter. The predominant cellular fatty acids were identified as iso-C-15:0, anteiso-C-15:0, iso-C-17:0 3-OH and summed feature 4 (comprising iso-C-17:1 I/anteiso-C-17:1 B). The predominant menaquinone was identified as MK-7. The DNA G+C content was determined to be 48.7mol%. The major polar lipid was found to be phosphatidylethanolamine. Based on phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic analyses, strain 17gy-14(T) is concluded to represent a novel species of the genus Pontibacter in the phylum Bacteroidetes, for which the name Pontibacter chitinilyticus sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is 17gy-14(T) (=KCTC 52914(T)=NRBC 113056(T)).