Pedobacter aquatilis sp. nov., isolated from drinking water, and emended description of the genus Pedobacter.

A Gram-negative, rod-shaped, non-spore-forming bacterium (strain AR107(T)) was isolated from the drinking water distribution system of Seville (Spain). A polyphasic taxonomic study of the isolate resulted in its identification as a member of the genus Pedobacter. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence comparisons, strain AR107(T) was shown to belong to the phylum Bacteroidetes, being related to members of the genus Pedobacter. It showed 95.2 % sequence similarity with respect to the type strains of Pedobacter heparinus and Pedobacter piscium, and 94.1 % similarity with respect to the type strain of Pedobacter himalayensis. The predominant fatty acids were iso-C(15 : 0), iso-C(17 : 0) 3-OH and summed feature 3 (iso-C(15 : 0) 2-OH and/or C(16 : 1)omega7c), which supports the affiliation of strain AR107(T) to the genus Pedobacter. The DNA G+C content of this strain was 38 mol%. On the basis of the phenotypic, phylogenetic and genotypic results, strain AR107(T) represents a novel species, for which the name Pedobacter aquatilis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is AR107(T) (=CCM 7347(T)=CECT 7114(T)=JCM 13454(T)).