Deinococcus aquiradiocola sp. nov., isolated from a radioactive site in Japan.

A gamma- and UV-radiation-tolerant, pale-pink strain (TDMA-uv53T) was isolated from a freshwater sample collected at Misasa (Tottori, Japan), after exposure of the water sample to UV radiation. The cells stained Gram-positive and were non-motile, rod-shaped and non-spore-forming. The DNA G+C content of the strain was 69.1 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain TDMA-uv53T belongs to the genus Deinococcus, the highest sequence similarities being found with Deinococcus claudionis PO-04-19-125T (96 %), D. altitudinis ME-04-01-32T (96 %), D. radiomollis PO-04-20-132T (95 %), D. deserti VCD115T (91.5 %), D. hopiensis KR-140T (91.0 %) and D. sonorensis KR-87T (91.0 %). Major fatty acids were iso-15 : 0, 15 : 1omega6c, 15 : 0, 16 : 0 and summed feature 3 (iso-15 : 0 2-OH and/or 16 : 1omega7c). MK-8 was the predominant respiratory quinone. Phylogenetic distinctiveness and unique phenotypic characteristics differentiated strain TDMA-uv53T from closely related Deinococcus species. The results of our polyphasic taxonomic analyses suggested that TDMA-uv53T represents a novel Deinococcus species, for which the name Deinococcus aquiradiocola sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is TDMA-uv53T (=JCM 14371(T) [corrected] =NBRC 102118T =CCUG 53612T).