Arthrobacter psychrophenolicus sp. nov., isolated from an alpine ice cave.

On the basis of phenotypic, genotypic and chemotaxonomic characteristics, a novel species belonging to the genus Arthrobacter is described. A facultatively psychrophilic bacterium, strain AG31(T), was isolated from an alpine ice cave. The aerobic, Gram-positive, non-spore-forming, non-motile strain exhibited a rod-coccus growth cycle and produced a yellow pigment. Good growth and phenol biodegradation occurred at a temperature range of 1-25 degrees C. Up to 10 mM phenol was utilized as a sole carbon source. Glucose was not assimilated. Analysis of the 16S rRNA gene revealed that strain AG31(T) represents a distinct lineage within the genus Arthrobacter, being most closely related to Arthrobacter sulfureus. The level of DNA-DNA relatedness to the type strain of A. sulfureus was 29.9 %. Anteiso-C(15 : 0) was the predominant fatty acid (72 %). Strain AG31(T) exhibited A4alpha l-lys-l-Glu-type peptidoglycan and contained glucose as the only cell-wall sugar. MK-10 was the predominant menaquinone, and the polar lipid pattern consisted of phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylinositol and an unidentified glycolipid. Strain AG31(T) (=DSM 15454(T)=LMG 21914(T)) is assigned as the type strain of a novel Arthrobacter species, Arthrobacter psychrophenolicus sp. nov.