Aquitalea pelogenes sp. nov., isolated from mineral peloid.

Strain P1297T was isolated in the frame of a project aimed on the psychrotolerant microbiota occurring in water sources. The strain initially identified as a tentative species of the genus Aeromonas was rod-shaped, Gram-stain-negative, facultatively anaerobic and oxidase-positive. Subsequently, 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis placed strain P1297T within the class Betaproteobacteria and showed Aquitalea magnusonii TRO-001DR8T as the closest phylogenetic relative with 99.28 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity. Digital DDH and average nucleotide identity (ANI) were determined to evaluate the genomic relationship between strain P1297T and Aquitalea magnusonii CCM 7607T. Digital DDH estimation (31.3 ± 2.46 %) as well as ANI (85.6001 %; reciprocal value 85.3277 %) proved the dissimilarity of strain P1297T. Further investigation using phenotyping, automated ribotyping, whole-cell protein profiling and PCR-fingerprinting methods showed a distinct taxonomic position of strain P1297T among hitherto described species of the genus Aquitalea. DNA-DNA hybridization experiments revealed low binding values between strain P1297T and Aquitalea magnusonii CCM 7607T (57 ± 3 %) and Aquitalea denitrificans CCM 7935T (41 ± 5 %). The DNA G+C content of strain P1297T was 60.3 mol%. The predominant fatty acids were C16 : 1ω7c/ iso-C15 : 0 2-OH (47.0 %), C16 : 0 (24.5 %) and C18 : 1ω7c (10.6 %), and the quinone system contained predominantly ubiquinone Q-8. The polar lipids detected were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, two unidentified phospholipids and one unidentified aminophospholipid. Obtained results of genotypic and chemotaxonomic methods clearly proved that strain P1297T represents a novel species of the genus Aquitalea, for which the name Aquitalea pelogenes sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is P1297T ( = CCM 7557T = LMG 28989T = CCUG 67440T).