Pontibacter indicus sp. nov., isolated from hexachlorocyclohexane-contaminated soil.

An orange-pigmented bacterial strain, designated LP100(T), was isolated from hexachlorocyclohexane-contaminated soil (Lucknow, India). A neighbour-joining tree based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain LP100(T) occupied a distinct phylogenetic position in the Pontibacter species cluster, showing highest similarity with Pontibacter lucknowensis DM9(T) (97.4 %). Levels of similarity to strains of other Pontibacter species ranged between 94.0 and 96.8 %. Strain LP100(T) contained MK-7 as the predominant menaquinone and sym-homospermidine was the major polyamine in the cell. The major cellular fatty acids of strain LP100(T) were anteiso-C17 : 0 A, iso-C15 : 0 and iso-C18 : 1 H. The polar lipid profile of strain LP100(T) showed the presence of phosphatidylethanolamine, an unidentified aminophospholipid, three unknown aminolipids and two unknown polar lipids. The G+C content of strain LP100(T) was 58.2 mol%. The results of DNA-DNA hybridization, biochemical and physiological tests clearly distinguish the novel strain from closely related species of the genus Pontibacter. Therefore, strain LP100(T) represents a novel species of the genus Pontibacter for which the name Pontibacter indicus is proposed. The type strain is LP100(T) ( = CCM8435(T) = MCC2027(T)).