Methylobacter tundripaludum sp. nov., a methane-oxidizing bacterium from Arctic wetland soil on the Svalbard islands, Norway (78{degrees} N)

1 Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Tromsø, N-9037 Tromsø, Norway 2 Department of Biological Sciences, University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton, New Zealand Correspondence Mette M. Svenning Mette.Svenning{at}ib.uit.no A Gram-negative, rod-shaped, non-motile, non-spore forming bacterium (SV96 T ) was isolated from wetland soil near Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, strain SV96 T was shown to belong to the Gammaproteobacteria , related to Methylobacter psychrophilus Z-0021 T (99·1 %), Methylobacter luteus ATCC 49878 T (97·3 %), Methylobacter marinus A45 T (97·0 %) and Methylobacter whittenburyi ATCC 51738 T (95·8 %); the closest related species within the genus Methylomicrobium with a validly published name was Methylomicrobium album ATCC 33003 T (95·0 %). Chemotaxonomic data (including the major fatty acids: 16 : 1 8, 16 : 1 7 and 16 : 1 5 t ) supported the affiliation of strain SV96 T to the genus Methylobacter . The results of DNA–DNA hybridization, physiological and biochemical tests allowed genotypic and phenotypic differentiation of strain SV96 T from the four Methylobacter species mentioned above. Strain SV96 T therefore represents a novel species, for which the name Methylobacter tundripaludum sp. nov. is proposed (type strain SV96 T =DSM 17260 T =ATCC BAA-1195 T ). Abbreviations: PLFA, phospholipid fatty acid; RuMP, ribulose monophosphate; sMMO, soluble methane monooxygenase Published online ahead of print on 26 August 2005 as DOI 10.1099/ijs.0.63728-0. The GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ accession numbers for the 16S rRNA gene, pmoA and nifH sequences of Methylobacter tundripaludum SV96 T are AJ414655 , AJ414658 and AY937260 , respectively.