A Gram-stain-negative, non-spore-forming, non-motile, short-rod-shaped bacterial strain, designated KADR8-3T, isolated from Andong sikhye in Andong-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do, Republic of Korea, was characterized using a polyphasic approach. On the basis of morphological, genetic and chemotaxonomic characteristics, it was determined to belong to the genus Ottowia. The phylogenetic similarity based on the 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated the strain formed a clade with Ottowia beijingensis GCS-AN-3T, Ottowia thiooxydans DSM 14619T, Ottowia pentelensis RB3-7T and 'Ottowia shaoguanensis' J5-66T, showing the highest similarity to O. beijingensis GCS-AN-3T (96.3 %). The major fatty acids were C16 : 0, summed feature 3 (C16 : 1ω6c and/or C16 : 1ω7c) and summed feature 8 (C18 : 1ω6c and/or C18 : 1ω7c). The predominant respiratory quinone was Q-8. The polar lipids present were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylmonomethylethanolamine, two unidentified aminolipids and two unidentified lipids. The genomic DNA G+C content was 66.80 mol%. These results supported that strain KADR8-3T was clearly distinguishable from its closely related species and represents a novel species of the genus Ottowia, for which the name Ottowia oryzae is proposed. The type strain is KADR8-3T (=KACC 19325T=NBRC 113109T).
Keywords: Andong sikhye; Ottowia oryzae; new taxa; taxonomy.