Flavobacterium sasangense sp. nov., isolated from a wastewater stream polluted with heavy metals.

A Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium, designated strain YC6274(T), was isolated from a stream (Sasang) carrying wastewater polluted with heavy metals in Busan, Korea. Growth was observed at 10-35 degrees C (optimum, 30 degrees C) and pH 6.0-9.5 (optimum, pH 7.5-8.0). Comparative 16S rRNA gene sequence analyses showed that the strain was most closely related to Flavobacterium cucumis R2A45-3(T) (96.6 % similarity), F. aquatile ATCC 11947(T) (93.7 %), F. croceum EMB47(T) (93.3 %), F. indicum GPTSA100-9(T) (93.3 %) and F. terrigena DS-20(T) (93.2 %). Sequence similarities with strains of other Flavobacterium species with validly published names were lower than 93.0 %. Phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence showed that strain YC6274(T) formed a distinct phyletic lineage within the genus Flavobacterium. The predominant fatty acids of strain YC6274(T) were iso-C(15 : 0), iso-C(16 : 0), iso-C(15 : 1) G, iso-C(17 : 0) 3-OH, iso-C(16 : 0) 3-OH and iso-C(15 : 0) 3-OH. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 32.5 mol% and the major quinone was MK-6. On the basis of phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and molecular data, it is clear that strain YC6274(T) represents a novel species within the genus Flavobacterium, for which the name Flavobacterium sasangense sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is YC6274(T) (=KCTC 22246(T) =DSM 21067(T)).