Serratia ureilytica sp. nov., a novel urea-utilizing species

1 Microbiology Laboratory, Department of Biotechnology, North Bengal University, Siliguri-734430, West Bengal, India 2 Department of Microbiology, Bose Institute, CIT-Scheme VII-A, Kolkata-56, India Correspondence Ranadhir Chakraborty rcnbu2003{at}yahoo.com A Gram-negative, rod-shaped, urea-dissolving and non-spore-forming bacterium, designated strain NiVa 51 T , was isolated from water of the River Torsa in Hasimara, Jalpaiguri district, West Bengal, India. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, strain NiVa 51 T was shown to belong to the - Proteobacteria and to be related to Serratia marcescens subsp. sakuensis (98·35 %) and S. marcescens subsp. marcescens (98·30 %); however, strain NiVa 51 T exhibited only 43·7 % similarity to S. marcescens by DNA–DNA hybridization. The G+C content of the genomic DNA of the isolate was 60 mol%. Both biochemical characteristics and fatty acid analysis data supported the affiliation of strain NiVa 51 T to the genus Serratia . Furthermore, strain NiVa 51 T was found to utilize urea as nitrogen source. The results of DNA–DNA hybridization as well as physiological and biochemical tests allowed genotypic and phenotypic differentiation of strain NiVa 51 T from recognized Serratia species. Strain NiVa 51 T therefore represents a novel species, for which the name Serratia ureilytica sp. nov. is proposed, with type strain NiVa 51 T (=LMG 22860 T =CCUG 50595 T ). Published online ahead of print on 27 May 2005 as DOI 10.1099/ijs.0.63674-0. The GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ accession number for the 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain NiVa 51 T is AJ854062 . Figures showing the growth curve of strain NiVA 51 T and phylogenetic trees constructed by using maximum-parsimony, KITSCH and FITCH algorithms, and tables detailing the cellular fatty acid composition of strain NiVA 51 T and related taxa, and similarity coefficients of members of the family Enterobacteriaceae are available as supplementary material in IJSEM Online.