Kaistella koreensis gen. nov., sp. nov., a novel member of the Chryseobacterium-Bergeyella-Riemerella branch

1 Environmental and Molecular Microbiology Laboratory, Department of Biological Sciences, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 373-1 Kuseong-dong, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-701, Republic of Korea 2 Division of Genome Resources Bank and Reservation, National Genome Research Institute, Korean National Institute of Health, Seoul 122-701, Republic of Korea 3 Laboratory of Rickettsial and Zoonotic Disease, Department of Microbiology, Korean National Institute of Health, Seoul 122-701, Republic of Korea 4 Department of Food and Biotechnology, Hoseo University, Asan 336-795, Republic of Korea Correspondence Sung-Taik Lee e_stlee{at}kaist.ac.kr Gram-negative, non-spore-forming, rod-shaped, yellow-pigmented bacteria isolated from a freshwater stream in Korea were investigated to determine their taxonomic position. Complete 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis indicated that the organisms should be placed in the Chryseobacterium – Bergeyella – Riemerella branch in the family Flavobacteriaceae . Phylogenetically, the strains were most closely related to Chryseobacterium balustinum ATCC 33487 T and Chryseobacterium scophthalmum LMG 13028 T (94·3 and 94·1 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, respectively) and they clustered on a separate well-supported branch. The strains contained menaquinone MK-6 as the predominant respiratory quinone and showed higher G+C contents (41·7 mol%) than other species in the Chryseobacterium – Bergeyella – Riemerella branch and i-C 15 : 0 as a major fatty acid (47–52 %). The phylogenetic distances from any species with validly published names and their phenotypic properties confirmed that the strains constitute a separate species in a new genus, for which the name Kaistella koreensis gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed (type strain Chj707 T =KCTC 12107 T =IAM 15050 T ). Abbreviations: CFB, Cytophaga – Flavobacterium – Bacteroides ; FAME, fatty acid methyl ester Published online ahead of print on 19 July 2004 as DOI 10.1099/ijs.0.02998-0. The GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ accession numbers for the 16S rRNA gene sequences of strains Chj707 T , Ko2 and Ko10 are AF344179 , AY294611 and AY299974 . Present address: Dept of Biologie I, Fakultat fur Biologie, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Maria-Ward-Strasse 1a, D-80638 München, Germany.