Pontibacter virosus sp. nov., isolated from a hexachlorocyclohexane-contaminated dumpsite.

A Gram-staining-negative, red-pigmented, motile, rod-shaped bacterial strain, designated as W14T, was isolated from a hexachlorocyclohexane-contaminated dumpsite located in the northern part of India at Ummari Village, Lucknow. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequence showed that the strain belongs to the genus Pontibacter with highest sequence similarity to Pontibacter lucknowensis DM9T (98.1 %). The 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity between strain W14T and members of other species of the genus Pontibacter ranged from 98.1 to 94.2 %. The DNA-DNA relatedness between strain W14T and P. lucknowensis DM9T was 33.7 % and with other closely related strains was found to be less than 20 %, confirming it to represent a novel species. The DNA G+C content of strain W14T was 51.3 mol%. Strain W14T was oxidase- and catalase-positive. The predominant cellular fatty acids were summed feature 4 (C17 : 1 iso I/anteiso B and C17 : 1 anteiso B/iso I), iso-C15 : 0 and iso-C17 : 0 3-OH. The polar lipid profile of strain W14T consisted of phosphatidylethanolamine, diphosphatidylglycerol, aminolipid and glycolipid. On the basis of the results obtained from DNA-DNA hybridization, biochemical and physiological tests in this study, strain W14T represents a novel species of the genus Pontibacter, for which the name Pontibacter virosus sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is W14T (=MCC 2932T=DSM 100231T=KCTC 42941T).