Chryseobacterium camelliae sp. nov., isolated from green tea.

A Gram-staining-negative, strictly aerobic, non-motile, rod-shaped and flexirubin-type-pigmented strain, THG C4-1(T), was isolated from green tea leaves in Jangheung-gun, Republic of Korea. Strain THG C4-1(T) grew well at 20-30 °C, at pH 7.0-7.5 and in the absence of NaCl on nutrient agar. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence comparisons, strain THG C4-1(T) was most closely related to Chryseobacterium taiwanense Soil-3-27(T) (97.7 %), C. hagamense RHA2-9(T) (97.2 %), C. gregarium P 461/12(T) (97.2 %), C. ginsenosidimutans THG 15(T) (97.1 %), C. taeanense PHA3-4(T) (97.0 %) and C. daeguense K105(T) (97.0 %), but DNA-DNA relatedness between strain THG C4-1(T) and its closest phylogenetic neighbours was below 21 %. The DNA G+C content was 41.7 mol%. The only isoprenoid quinone detected in strain THG C4-1(T) was menaquinone 6 (MK-6). The major component of the polyamine pattern was sym-homospermidine. The major polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine and unidentified aminolipids. The major fatty acids were iso-C15 : 0, iso-C17 : 0 3-OH and iso-C17 : 1ω9c. These data supported the affiliation of strain THG C4-1(T) to the genus Chryseobacterium. The results of physiological and biochemical tests enabled strain THG C4-1(T) to be differentiated genotypically and phenotypically from recognized species of the genus Chryseobacterium. Therefore, the novel isolate represents a novel species, for which the name Chryseobacterium camelliae sp. nov. is proposed, with THG C4-1(T) ( = KACC 16985(T) = JCM 18745(T)) as the type strain.