Three bacterial strains, designated Red330T, Red736T and Red745T, were isolated from forest and paddy soils in Japan. Strains Red330T, Red736T and Red745T are flagella-harbouring and strictly anaerobic bacteria forming red colonies. A 16S rRNA gene sequence-based phylogenetic tree showed that all three strains were located in a cluster, including the type strains of Geomonas species, which were recently separated from the genus Geobacter within the family Geobacteraceae. Similarities of the 16S rRNA gene sequences among the three strains and Geomonas oryzae S43T, the type species of the genus Geomonas, were 96.3-98.5 %. The genome-related indexes, average nucleotide identity, digital DNA-DNA hybridization, and average amino acid identity, among the three strains and G. oryzae S43T were 74.7-86.8 %, 21.2-33.3 % and 70.4-89.8 %, respectively, which were lower than the species delineation thresholds. Regarding the phylogenetic relationships based on genome sequences, the three strains clustered with the type strains of Geomonas species, which were independent from the type strains of Geobacter species. The distinguishableness of the three isolated strains was supported by physiological and chemotaxonomic properties, with the profile of availability of electron donors and cellular fatty acids composition being particularly different among them. Based on genetic, phylogenetic and phenotypic properties, the three isolates represent three novel independent species in the genus Geomonas, for which the names Geomonas silvestris sp. nov., Geomonas paludis sp. nov. and Geomonas limicola sp. nov. are proposed. The type strains are Red330T (=NBRC 114028T=MCCC 1K03949T), Red736T (=NBRC 114029T=MCCC 1K03950T) and Red745T (=NBRC 114030T=MCCC 1K03951T), respectively.
Keywords: Geomonas; Geomonas limicola; Geomonas paludis; Geomonas silvestris; soils.