Reclassification of [Flavobacterium] ferrugineum as Terrimonas ferruginea gen. nov., comb. nov., and description of Terrimonas lutea sp. nov., isolated from soil.

Strain DY(T), which was isolated from garden soil in Japan, was subjected to a polyphasic taxonomic study. Sequence analysis of the 16S rRNA gene and the GyrB protein revealed that the closest relative of strain DYT was [Flavobacterium] ferrugineum Sickles and Shaw 1934, with 94.8 and 90.1 % similarity, respectively. The two strains had similar chemotaxonomic characteristics, with menaquinone 7 as the major quinone system, 47.2-48.9 mol% DNA G+C content and 15 : 0 iso, 15 : 1 iso, 17 : 0 iso 3-OH and summed feature 3 as the major fatty acids. Based on genotypic and phenotypic characteristics, [Flavobacterium] ferrugineum IAM 15098T could be clearly differentiated from other members of the genus Flavobacterium. Strain DYT and [Flavobacterium] ferrugineum IAM 15098T could be easily distinguished from neighbouring taxa by morphological features (non-motile, non-gliding and non-filamentous single cells). Therefore, it is proposed that [Flavobacterium] ferrugineum IAM 15098T and strain DYT represent two separate species of a new genus, Terrimonas gen. nov., with the names Terrimonas ferruginea comb. nov. (type species; type strain IAM 15098T=ATCC 13524T) and Terrimonas lutea sp. nov. (type strain DYT=IAM 15284T=CCTCC AB205006T), respectively.