Hymenobacter arcticus sp nov., isolated from glacial till

A novel, red-pink-pigmented strain, designated R2-4(T), was isolated from a till sample near Ny-Alesund, Svalbard Archipelago, Norway. Cells were aerobic, Gram-stain-negative and rod-shaped. Growth occurred at 4-30 degrees C (optimum, 20-22 degrees C), at pH 6.0-9.0 (optimum, pH 7.0) and with 0-1% NaCl added to R2A agar. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain R2-4(T) belonged to the genus Hymenobacter. 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity between strain R2-4(T) and the type strains of related species of the genus ranged from 94.51 to 96.05%. Strain R2-4(T) contained iso-C-15:0, anteiso-C-15:0, summed feature 3 (C-16:1 omega 6c and/or C-16:1 omega 7c), summed feature 4 (C-17:1 anteiso B and/or iso I) and C-16:1 omega 5c as the major cellular fatty acids, MK-7 as the major respiratory quinone, and phosphatidylethanolamine, unknown aminophospholipids, unknown aminolipids and unknown lipids as the main polar lipids. The polyamine was sym-homospermidine. The DNA G+C content of strain R2-4(T) was 61.6 mol%. On the basis of phylogenetic, physiological and chemotaxonomic data, strain R2-4(T). is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Hymenobacter, for which the name Hymenobacter arcticus sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is R2-4(T) (=CCTCC AB 2012104(T)=KACC 16881(T)).