Cryobacterium levicorallinum sp. nov., a psychrophilic bacterium isolated from glacier ice.

In this study, two psychrophilic bacterial strains were isolated from the China No. 1 glacier in Xinjiang, north-west China. Cells were Gram-positive rods. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that the strains belonged to the genus Cryobacterium. Phylogenetic analysis showed that they clustered together and are most closely related to Cryobacterium luteum CGMCC 1.11210(T), Cryobacterium flavum CGMCC 1.11215(T), Cryobacterium psychrophilum CGMCC 1.4292(T), Cryobacterium psychrotolerans CGMCC 1.5382(T) and Cryobacterium roopkundense CGMCC 1.10672(T). The major cellular fatty acids of the novel strains were anteiso-C15 : 0, anteiso-C15 : 1 A, iso-C16 : 0 and iso-C15 : 0. Both strains contained diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol and one unidentified glycolipid in the cell membrane. The results of DNA-DNA hybridization and physiological tests allowed the genotypic and phenotypic differentiation of strains Hh34(T) and Hh28 from related species. However, their high DNA-DNA relatedness showed that they belong to the same novel species. Strain Hh34(T) (= NBRC 107883(T) = CGMCC 1.11211(T)) was selected as the type strain to represent this novel species, for which the name Cryobacterium levicorallinum sp. nov. is proposed.