Hymenobacter puniceus sp. nov., radiation resistant bacteria isolated from soil in South Korea.

Two novel Gram-negative bacterial strains BT190 and BT191 were isolated from soil collected in Uijeongbu city (37°44'55″N, 127°02'20″E), Korea. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strains BT190 and BT191 belong to a distinct lineage within the genus Hymenobacter (family Hymenobacteraceae, order Cytophagales, class Cytophagia). The level of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity between the strains BT190 and BT190 was 99.5%. The strains BT190 and BT191 were closely related to Hymenobacter swuensis DY53 (97.0% 16S rRNA gene similarity), Hymenobacter metallilatus 9PBR-2 (96.8%), Hymenobacter tibetensis XTM003 (96.8%) and Hymenobacter yonginensis HMD1010 (96.6%). The genome size of strain BT190 was 4,859,864 bp. The DNA G+C content of strain BT190 was 55.3 mol%. Bacterial growth was observed at 4-30 °C (optimum 25 °C) and pH 6.0-9.0 (optimum, pH 6.0-7.0) on R2A agar. Colonies of strains BT190 and BT191 were raised, smooth, circular and red-pink colored. The sole respiratory quinone of strain BT190 was MK-7 and the predominant cellular fatty acids were iso-C, C ω5c, summed feature 3 (C ω6c / C ω7c) and summed feature 4 (iso-C I / anteiso-C B). The major polar lipids of strain BT190 were aminophospholipid (APL) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE). Based on the chemotaxonomic, biochemical, and phylogenetic analysis, strains BT190 and BT191 can be suggested as a novel bacterial species within the genus Hymenobacter, for which the name Hymenobacter puniceus sp. nov is proposed. The type strain of Hymenobacter puniceus is BT190 (= KCTC 72342 = NBRC 114860).