Nemorella caseinilytica gen. nov., sp. nov., isolated from forest soil.

Two novel strains, J116-2 and J116-1, were isolated from forest soil and were taxonomically characterized by a polyphasic approach. Both strains were yellow-coloured, Gram-stain-negative, strictly aerobic, non-motile and rod-shaped bacteria. The strains were non-sporulating, catalase-positive and oxidase-negative. Strains J116-2 and J116-1 were able to grow at 20-32 °C, pH 6.0-8.5, and 0-0.5 % (w/v) NaCl concentration. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analyses, strains J116-2 and J116-1 formed a distinct lineage within the family Chitinophagaceae of the phylum Bacteroidetes and were closely related to genera Taibaiella (89.86-89.30 % sequence similarity), Falvihumibacter (89.20-89.06 %), Filimonas (89.06 %) and Chitinophaga(89.01-88.77 %). The pairwise sequence similarity between strains J116-2 and J116-1 was found to be 99.86 %. Flexirubin-type pigments were absent in both strains. The only respiratory quinone was menaquinone-7 (MK-7); the major polar lipid was phosphatidylethanolamine; the predominant polyamine was homospermidine; and the major fatty acids were C15 : 0iso, C15 : 1iso G and C17 : 0iso 3-OH. The genomic DNA G+C content values of strains J116-2 and J116-1 were 51.1 and 50.9 mol%, respectively. On the basis of phenotypic, genotypic and phylogenetic analysis, strain J116-2 represents a novel species of a new genus in the family Chitinophagaceae, for which the name Nemorella caseinilytica gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of Nemorella caseinilytica is J116-2 (=KEMB 9005-550=KACC 19168=NBRC 112827).