Correspondence

• Main Authors: Mariane Schmidt, Peter Stougaard
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Greenland; Ikka
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.559.4983; http://ijsb.sgmjournals.org/content/56/12/2887.full.pdf

A novel alkaliphilic and psychrophilic bacterium was isolated from the cold and alkaline ikaite tufa columns of the Ikka Fjord in south-west Greenland. According to 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, strain GCM71T belonged to the family ‘Flexibacteraceae ’ in the phylum Bacteroidetes. Strain GCM71T, together with five related isolates from ikaite columns, formed a separate cluster with 86–93 % gene sequence similarity to their closest relative, Belliella baltica. The G+C content of the DNA from strain GCM71T was 43?1 mol%, whereas that of B. baltica was reported to be 35 mol%. DNA–DNA hybridization between strain GCM71T and B. baltica was 9?5 %. The strain was red pigmented, Gram-negative, strictly aerobic with non-motile, rod-shaped cells. The optimal growth conditions for strain GCM71T were pH 9?2–10?0, 5 6C and 0?6 % NaCl. The fatty acid profile of the novel strain was dominated by branched and unsaturated fatty acids (90–97 %), with a high abundance of iso-C17: 1v9c (17?5 %), iso-C17: 0 3-OH (17?5 %) and summed feature 3, comprising iso-C15: 0 2-OH and/or C16: 1v7c (12?6 %). Phylogenetic, chemotaxonomic and physiological characteristics showed that the novel strain could not be affiliated to any known genus. A new genus, Rhodonellum gen. nov., is proposed to accommodate the novel strain. Strain GCM71T (=DSM 17998T=LMG 23454T) is proposed as the type strain of the type species, Rhodonellum psychrophilum sp. nov.