A Gram-stain-negative, rod-shaped (0.2-0.4 µm×1.2-1.7 µm), endophytic bacterium, designated HBUM179779T, was isolated from the stem of a medicinal plant,Gynura bicolor, collected from Pixian county in Sichuan province, China. The strain did not produce endospores and its cells could secrete mucus. The predominant menaquinone was MK-7. The polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylinositolmannosides, two unknown aminolipids, two unknown glycolipids and an unknown phospholipid. Branched fatty acids (iso-) and hydroxy fatty acids were the main fatty acids, which mainly included iso-C15 : 0, iso-C15 : 1 G and iso-C17 : 0 3-OH. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain HBUM179779T fell within the family Chitinophagaceae, and its closest neighbour was Pseudoflavitalea rhizosphaerae T16R-265T (94.46 %). However, strain HBUM179779T did not make a coherent clade with members of the recognized organisms. The average nucleotide identity value between strain HBUM179779T and Pseudoflavitalea rhizosphaerae T16R-265T was 67.1 %. On the basis of the phylogenetic and phenotypic characteristics of this bacterium, a novel genus and species, Gynurincola endophyticus gen. nov., sp. nov., is proposed. The type strain is HBUM179779T (=CGMCC 1.15525T=NBRC 112424T).
Keywords: Gynurincola endophyticus gen. nov., sp. nov.; a novel bacterium; family Chitinophagaceae.