Phenylobacterium koreense sp nov., isolated from South Korea

T A Gram-negative, aerobic, rod-shaped, non-spore-forming bacterium, Slu-01(T) , was isolated from activated sludge from a wastewater treatment plant in Daejeon, South Korea. After 3 days on R2A medium, strain Slu-01(T) developed colourless colonies (0(.)-7-1(.)2 mm). The non-motile rods (0(.)7-1(.)0 x 1(.)0-2(.)0 mu m) were slightly curved and occurred singly and in pairs. No filamentous cells were found. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, strain SlU-01(T) was shown to belong to the family Caulobacteraceae and was most closely related to Phenylobacterium immobile (96(.)6 %) and Phenylobacterium lituiforme (96(.)5 %). The genomic DNA G + C content of strain SlU-01(T) was 68(.)1 mol%, within the range of 67(.)3-68(.)4 mol% for the genus Phenylobacterium. Chemotaxonomic data (major ubiquinone, Q-10; major fatty acids C-18:1 omega 7c, C-16:0, C-15:0 and C-17:0) and 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis supported the affiliation of strain SlU-01(T) to the genus Phenylobacterium. However, DNA-DNA hybridization data and phenotypic properties showed that strain Slu-01(T) could be distinguished from the two other Phenylobacterium species with validly published names. Thus, it is suggested that strain Slu-01(T) represents a novel species of the genus Phenylobacterium, for which the name Phenylobacterium koreense is proposed. The type strain is SlU-01(T) (=KCTC 12206(T) = IAM 15119(T)).