Flavobacterium aerium sp. nov., a bacterium isolated from the air of the Icelandic volcanic island Surtsey

Abstract

A novel bacterium, designated 19SA41, was isolated from the air of the Icelandic volcanic island Surtsey. Cells of strain 19SA41 are Gram-stain-negative, strictly aerobic, non-motile rods and form pale yellow-pigmented colonies. The strain grows at 4–30 °C (optimum, 22 °C), at pH 6–10 (optimum, pH 7.5) and with 0–4% NaCl (optimum, 0.5%). Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that 19SA41 belonged to the genus Flavobacterium and is most similar to Flavobacterium xinjiangense DSM 19743T, with a sequence similarity of 96.52%. The new strain contained iso-C15: 0 (22%) and summed feature 3 (C16∶1 ω6c/C16∶1 ω7c) (20%) as the predominant fatty acids. The major respiratory quinone was menaquinone-6 (100%). The polar lipid profile consisted of phosphatidylethanolamine and several uncharacterized amino lipids, glycolipids and lipids. The genome of the new strain was 4.01 Mbp, and its G+C content was 33.2 mol%. Based on characterization and comparative results, using a polyphasic taxonomic approach, we propose that the new isolate represents a novel species of the genus Flavobacterium with the name Flavobacterium aerium sp. nov. The type strain is ISCaR-07695T (=DSM 116640T =UBOOC-M-3567T).