Flavobacterium gossypii sp. nov. isolated from the root tissue of field-grown cotton.

A yellow-pigmented bacterial strain, JM-222T, isolated from the root tissue of field-grown cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) in Auburn, Alabama, USA, was studied for its taxonomic allocation. Cells of the isolate were rod-shaped and Gram-stain-negative. A blast analysis using the EzTaxon database showed that strain JM-222T shared highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with the type strain of Flavobacterium endophyticum (98.9 %) followed by Flavobacterium qiangtangense (96.7 %). 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities to all other Flavobacterium species were below 95 %. The fatty acid profile of strain JM-222T consisted of the major fatty acids C15 : 0, iso-C15 : 0, iso-C15 : 0 2-OH/C16 : 1ω7c and iso-C17 : 0 3-OH. Major compounds in the polar lipid profile were phosphatidylethanolamine and several unidentified lipids. The quinone system consisted predominantly of menaquinone MK-6. The polyamine pattern consisted of the major compound sym-homospermidine and only minor amounts of other polyamines. These data and the differential biochemical and chemotaxonomic properties showed that the isolate JM-222T represents a novel species of the genus Flavobacterium, for which the name Flavobacterium gossypii sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is JM-222T (LMG 28821T=CCM 8610T).