Flavobacterium terrae sp. nov. and Flavobacterium cucumis sp. nov., isolated from greenhouse soil.

Two bacterial strains, R2A1-13(T) and R2A45-3(T), were isolated from greenhouse soils in Korea. The cells of both strains were Gram-negative, aerobic and rod-shaped. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis placed the isolates in the genus Flavobacterium within the family Flavobacteriaceae. Strain R2A1-13(T) was found to be related to Flavobacterium columnare IAM 14301(T), Flavobacterium saliperosum CGMCC1.3801(T) and Flavobacterium croceum EMB47(T), with sequence similarities of 96.8, 95.0 and 94.6 %, respectively. Strain R2A45-3(T) was found to be related to F. croceum EMB47(T) and Flavobacterium aquatile ATCC 11947(T), with sequence similarities of 94.7 and 94.6 %, respectively. Both strains contained iso-C(15 : 0) and iso-C(16 : 0) as the main fatty acids and contained a menaquinone with six isoprene units (MK-6) as the major isoprenoid quinone. The G+C contents of the DNA from strains R2A1-13(T) and R2A45-3(T) were 34 and 38 mol%, respectively. A polyphasic taxonomic study revealed that these strains belong to two novel species within the genus Flavobacterium, for which the names Flavobacterium terrae sp. nov. and Flavobacterium cucumis sp. nov. are proposed. The type strains of F. terrae sp. nov. and F. cucumis sp. nov. are R2A1-13(T) (=KACC 11731(T)=DSM 18829(T)) and R2A45-3(T) (=KACC 11732(T)=DSM 18830(T)), respectively.