Alishewanella tabrizica sp. nov., isolated from Qurugol Lake.

A novel Gram-negative, aerobic, motile and rod-shaped bacterium was isolated from Qurugöl Lake located in a mountainous region near Tabriz city in the north-west of Iran. Growth occurred at pH 6-10 (optimum, pH 7 ± 0.5) and at 10-40 °C (optimum, 30 °C). Strain RCRI4(T) was able to grow in the absence and presence of NaCl to 3% (w/v). The major fatty acids were C(17:0), C(16:1)ω7c/C(15 )iso3-OH, C(17:1)ω8c and C(16:0). The G+C content of genomic DNA was 45.3 mol%. Based on the 16S rRNA and gyrB gene sequences, phylogenetic analyses indicated that strain RCRI4(T) associated with the genus Alishewanella, and closely related type strains include Alishewanella agri BLO6(T) (97.8%), Alishewanella aestuarii B11(T) (97.7%), Rheinheimera perlucida BA131(T) (97.5%), Alishewanella fetalis CCUG 30811(T) (97.3%) and Alishewanella jeotgali MS1(T) (97.1%). The level of DNA-DNA relatedness between strain RCRI4(T) and phylogenetically the closest related strains, A. agri BLO6(T) and R. perlucida BA131(T), was 9 and 14%, respectively. On the basis of phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic results, it is suggested that strain RCRI4(T) represents a novel species of the genus Alishewanella, for which the name Alishewanella tabrizica sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is RCRI4(T) ( = LMG 26473(T) = JCM 17275(T) = KCTC 23723(T)).