sp. nov. and sp. nov., novel carotenoid-producing bacterial species isolated from farm soil.

Two yellow-pigmented novel strains, designated HF-S3 and HF-S4, were isolated from farm soil in Paju, Republic of Korea. Cells of the two strains are characteristically Gram-stain-negative, facultatively anaerobic, catalase- and oxidase-positive, non-motile and rod-shaped. Strain HF-S3 grew at 10-37 °C, while HF-S4 grew at 15-35 °C. Both strains grew at pH 5.0-12.0 and in NaCl concentrations (w/v) of 0-2.0%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that HF-S3 and HF-S4 belong to the genus , with HF-S3 exhibiting 97.7, 97.6 and 97.4% similarity to DM2-R-LB4, DSM 4733 and FWC47, respectively. Strain HF-S4 displayed 97.9, 97.7 and 97.6% similarity to Cra20, ZFGT-11 and KIS18-15, respectively. The DNA G+C contents of HF-S3 and HF-S4 were 67.0 and 66.5 mol%, respectively. The digital DNA-DNA hybridization and average nucleotide identity values among the novel and related type strains were 20.2-28.2% and 75.9-84.3%, respectively. They all contained C 2-OH and C, summed feature 8 (C 6 and/or C 7) as the major fatty acids and ubiquinone-10 as the predominant respiratory quinone. Strains HF-S3 and HF-S4 were found to produce carotenoid-type pigments. Based on polyphasic taxonomic analysis, the new isolates ostensibly represent two novel species of the genus , with the proposed names sp. nov. and sp. nov. for strains HF-S3 and HF-S4, respectively. The and type strains are HF-S3 (=KACC 23554 =TBRC 18352) and HF-S4 (=KACC 23386 =TBRC 17899), respectively.