In the present paper, we describe a new species of the genus Flavobacterium, designated as strain 1E403T, which was isolated from a soil sample collected from the Arctic. Strain 1E403T was Gram-stain-negative, yellow-pigmented, rod-shaped, gliding and aerobic. Growth occurred at 4-37 °C (optimum, 28 °C), pH 6.0-9.0 (pH 7.0) and with 0-2 % (w/v) NaCl (0 %) on modified marine agar 2216. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing revealed that strain 1E403T was affiliated with the genus Flavobacterium and was more closely related to Flavobacterium subsaxonicum DSM 21790T (96.6 %) than to other species. In silico genomic comparisons, including average nucleotide identity and the digital DNA-DNA hybridization values, showed 73.9 % and 18.8 % identity to the closest relative Flavobacterium subsaxonicum DSM 21790T, respectively. The average amino acid identity value between strain 1E403T and Flavobacterium aquatile DSM 1132T was 63.8 %. The DNA G+C content of the strain was 36.8 %, while the sole respiratory quinone was menaquinone-6. Iso-C15 : 0 and summed feature 3 (C16 : 1ω7c and/or C16 : 1ω6c) were the major fatty acids (>10 %) of strain 1E403T. The polar lipid profile of strain 1E403T contained phosphatidylethanolamine, four unidentified aminolipids and two unidentified phospholipids. Based on the phenotypic characteristics, chemotaxonomic characteristics and phylogenetic inference, strain 1E403T represents a novel species of the genus Flavobacterium, and we propose the name Flavobacterium cerinum sp. nov. The type strain of Flavobacterium cerinum sp. nov. is 1E403T (=KCTC 62960T=MCCC 1H00356T).
Keywords: 16S rRNA gene; Flavobacterium; polyphasic taxonomy.