Hymenobacter negativus sp. nov., bacteria isolated from mountain soil collected in South Korea

Two novel Gram-negative bacterial strains BT442^T and BT584 were isolated from dry soil collected in mountains Busan and Guri, Korea during wintertime. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strains BT442^T and BT584 both belong to a distinct lineage within the genus Hymenobacter (family Hymenobacteraceae, order Cytophagales, class Cytophagia). Strain BT442^T was closely related to Hymenobacter soli PB17^T (98.0% 16S rRNA gene similarity) and Hymenobacter terrae POA9^T (97.6%). No other recognized bacterial species showed more than 97% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity to strains BT442^T. The genome size of strain BT442^T was 5,143,362 bp. Bacterial growth was observed at 10–30 °C (optimum 25 °C), pH 6.0–8.0 (optimum pH 6.0) in R2A agar and in the presence up to 1% NaCl. The major cellular fatty acids of strains BT442^T and BT584 were iso-C_15:0, anteiso-C_15:0 and summed feature 3 (C_16:1 ω6c / C_16:1 ω7c). In addition, their predominant respiratory quinone was MK-7. The major polar lipids of strains BT442^T and BT584 were identified to be phosphatidylethanolamine, aminophospholipid, and aminolipid. Based on the biochemical, chemotaxonomic, and phylogenetic analyses, strains BT442^T and BT584 are novel bacterial species within the genus Hymenobacter, and the proposed name is Hymenobacter negativus. The strain type of Hymenobacter negativus is BT442^T (=?KCTC 72902^T?=?NBRC XXXX^T).