Pigmentiphaga kullae gen. nov., sp. nov., a novel member of the family Alcaligenaceae with the ability to decolorize azo dyes aerobically.

The taxonomic position of Pseudomonas strain K24, which was isolated previously after an aerobic enrichment with the azo compound 1-(4'-carboxyphenylazo)-4-naphthol as the sole source of carbon and energy, was investigated. The detection of a quinone system with ubiquinone Q-8 as the predominant compound and a polyamine pattern with putrescine and 2-hydroxyputrescine as the major polyamines present suggested that strain K24T belongs to the beta-subclass of the Proteobacteria. This was supported by sequencing the 16S rRNA gene, which demonstrated about 95-96% sequence similarity to different species of the genera Achromobacter, Alcaligenes and Bordetella. This suggested that strain K24T is a member of the family Alcaligenaceae. The G+C content of the DNA was 68.5 mol %. Different methods for the construction of phylogenetic dendrograms placed strain K24T separate from the genera Alcaligenes, Achromobacter and Bordetella. Analysis of the fatty acids demonstrated the presence of 10:0 3-OH and high concentrations of summed feature 7 (18:1omega7c, 18:1omega9t and/or 18:1omega12t) and 19:0 cycloomega8c, which is unique among previously described species of the genera Alcaligenes, Achromobacter and Bordetella. On the basis of the low 16S rRNA sequence similarities, the composition of the fatty acid profile and unique phenotypic properties, a new genus and species is proposed for strain K24T with the name Pigmentiphaga kullae gen. nov., sp. nov.