Arthrobacter subterraneus sp. nov., isolated from deep subsurface water of the South Coast of Korea

Strain CH7T, a pale yellow-pigmented bacterium and new isolate from deep subsurface water of the South Coast of Korea, was subjected to a polyphasic taxonomic study. CH7T grew between 5 and 37 degrees C, pH 5.3-10.5, and tolerated up to 13% NaCl. A phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain CH7T was associated with the genus Arthrobacter and phylogenetically closely related to the type strains Arthrobacter tumbae (99.4%) and Arthrobacter parietis (99.1%). However, DNA-DNA hybridization experiments revealed 2.1% and 12% between strain CH7T and Arthrobacter tumbae and Arthrobacter parietis, respectively. Thus, the phenotypic and phylogenetic differences suggested that CH7T should be placed in the genus Arthrobacter as a novel species, for which the name Arthrobacter subterraneus sp. nov. is proposed. In addition, the type strain for the new species is CH7T (=KCTC 9997T=DSM 17585T).