Hymenobacter rufus sp. nov., a bacterium isolated from soil.

A bacterial strain, S1-2-2-6, was isolated from a soil sample collected in Jeollabuk-do province, Republic of Korea. Cells of this strain were observed to be Gram-stain-negative, short and rod-shaped, and colonies were red to pink in colour. Analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences identified this strain as representing a member of the genus Hymenobacter in the family Cytophagaceae, with the highest levels of sequence similarity being observed in relation to Hymenobacter terrae DG7A (98.2 %), Hymenobacter rubidus DG7B (97.9 %), Hymenobacter soli PB17 (97.7 %), and Hymenobacter daeguensis 16F3Y-2 (97.3 %). Growth of S1-2-2-6 was observed at 4-30 °C, pH 6-8 and in the presence of 0-0.5 % NaCl. The predominant respiratory quinone of this strain was menaquinone-7, the major fatty acids were C15 : 0 iso, C15 : 0 anteiso, and Summed feature 3 (C16 : 1ω7c/C16 : 1ω6c), and the major polar lipid was phosphatidylethanolamine. The genomic DNA G+C content of S1-2-2-6 was 60.7 mol%. DNA-DNA hybridization experiments with H. terrae, H. rubidus, H. soli and H. daeguensisresulted in relatedness values of 35.9 and 38.4 %, 34.2 and 30.4 %, 28.3 and 33.1 %, and 23.5 and 27.9 %, respectively. These DNA-DNA hybridization results, in addition to some differentiating phenotypic properties, clearly indicate that S1-2-2-6 is a representative of a novel species of the genus Hymenobacter, for which the name Hymenobacter rufus sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is S1-2-2-6 (=KCTC 52736=JCM 32196).