Pedobacter nyackensis sp. nov., Pedobacter alluvionis sp. nov. and Pedobacter borealis sp. nov., isolated from Montana flood-plain sediment and forest soil.

Three Gram-negative, rod-shaped, non-spore-forming eubacterial strains were isolated in western Montana, USA, and subjected to taxonomic studies. Strains NWG-II14(T) and NWER-II11(T) were isolated from hyporheic sediments of a large alluvial flood plain, whereas strain G-1(T) was isolated from a conifer forest soil. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, strains NWG-II14(T), NWER-II11(T) and G-1(T) were shown to belong to the family Sphingobacteriaceae and are most closely related to various species of the genus Pedobacter. The results of molecular, physiological and biochemical tests allowed genotypic and phenotypic differentiation of these three strains from 23 Pedobacter species with validly published names. The three isolates therefore represent novel species, for which the names Pedobacter nyackensis sp. nov. (type strain NWG-II14(T) =DSM 19625(T) =LMG 24260(T)), Pedobacter alluvionis sp. nov. (type strain NWER-II11(T) =DSM 19624(T) =LMG 24258(T)) and Pedobacter borealis sp. nov. (type strain G-1(T) =DSM 19626(T) =LMG 24259(T)) are proposed.