Description of Conyzicola nivalis sp. nov., isolated from glacial snow, and emended description of the genus Conyzicola and Conyzicola lurida.

A cold-tolerant, translucent, yellow-pigmented, Gram-stain-positive, non-motile, rod-shaped bacteria was isolated from snow of the Zadang Glacier on the Tibetan Plateau, PR China. 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity analysis indicated that the isolate was closely related to Conyzicola lurida KCTC 29231T and Leifsonia psychrotolerans DSM 22824T at a level of 97.72 and 97.49 %, respectively. Other close relatives had a 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity of less than 97 %. The major cell-wall amino acid was 2,4-diaminobutyric acid. The cell-wall sugars were rhamnose, ribose, glucose, galactose and mannose. The major menaquinones were MK-9, MK-10 and MK-11. The major polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylglycerol. The predominant fatty acids were anteiso-C15 : 0 and iso-C16 : 0. In DNA-DNA hybridization tests, strain ZD5-4T shared 43.6 and 34.2 % relatedness with C. lurida KCTC 29231T and L. psychrotolerans DSM 22824T, respectively. Based on phenotypic and chemotaxonomic characteristics, strain ZD5-4T was considered to represent a novel species of the genus Conyzicola, for which the name Conyzicola nivalis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is ZD5-4T (=JCM 30076T=CGMCC 1.12813T). Emended descriptions of the genus Conyzicola and Conyzicola lurida are also provided.