Leuconostoc miyukkimchii sp. nov., isolated from brown algae (Undaria pinnatifida) kimchi.

A Gram-staining-positive, non-motile and non-spore-forming lactic acid bacterium, designated strain M2(T), was isolated from fermented brown algae (Undaria pinnatifida) kimchi in South Korea. Cells of the isolate were facultatively anaerobic ovoids and showed catalase- and oxidase-negative reactions. Growth of strain M2(T) was observed at 4-35 °C and at pH 5.0-9.0. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 42.5 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain M2(T) belonged to the genus Leuconostoc and was most closely related to Leuconostoc inhae IH003(T), Leuconostoc kimchii IH25(T), Leuconostoc gasicomitatum LMG 18811(T), Leuconostoc gelidum DSM 5578(T), Leuconostoc palmae TMW2.694(T) and Leuconostoc holzapfelii BFE 7000(T) with 98.9 %, 98.8 %, 98.8 %, 98.7 %, 98.5 % and 98.2 % sequence similarity, respectively. DNA-DNA hybridization values between strain M2(T) and Leuconostoc inhae KACC 12281(T), Leuconostoc kimchii IH25(T), Leuconostoc gelidum KACC 12256(T), Leuconostoc gasicomitatum KACC 13854(T), Leuconostoc palmae DSM 21144(T) and Leuconostoc holzapfelii DSM 21478(T) were 13.8±3.2 %, 14.3±3.4 %, 9.9±1.0 %, 13.2±0.8 %, 22.4±4.9 % and 16.2±4.6 %, respectively, which allowed differentiation of strain M2(T) from the closely related species of the genus Leuconostoc. On the basis of phenotypic and molecular properties, strain M2(T) represents a novel species in the genus Leuconostoc, for which the name Leuconostoc miyukkimchii sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is M2(T) ( = KACC 15353(T)  = JCM 17445(T)).