Flavobacterium ureilyticum sp. nov., a novel urea hydrolysing bacterium isolated from stream bank soil.

A novel bacterium designated S-42 was isolated from stream bank soil. Cells were found to be aerobic, Gram staining-negative, oxidase-positive, catalase-negative, non-motile, non-spore-forming, rod-shaped, and yellow-pigmented. The strain can grow at 15-35 °C, pH 6.0-10.0, and at 0.5% (w/v) NaCl concentration. Urea was hydrolysed. Flexirubin-type pigments were absent. Phylogenetic analysis based on its 16S rRNA gene sequence revealed that strain S-42 formed a lineage within the family Flavobacteriaceae of the phylum Bacteroidetes that is distinct from various species of the genus Flavobacterium, including Flavobacterium maotaiense T9 (97.6% sequence similarity), Flavobacterium hibernum ATCC 51468 (97.4%), and Flavobacterium granuli Kw05 (97.1%). The 16S rRNA gene sequences identity between strain S-42 and other members of the genus Flavobacterium were < 97.0%. Strain S-42 contains MK-6 as sole respiratory quinone. The major polar lipids were identified as phosphatidylethanolamine and an unidentified aminolipid. The major cellular fatty acids were identified as iso-C, summed feature 3 (Cω7c and/or Cω6c), C, anteiso-C, iso-C 3-OH, iso-C 3-OH, and iso-C G. The DNA G + C content of the strain was 35.8 mol%. The polyphasic characterization indicated that strain S-42 represents a novel species of the genus Flavobacterium, for which the name Flavobacterium ureilyticum sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is S-42 (= KEMB 9005-537 = KACC 19115 = NBRC 112683).