Amantichitinum ursilacus gen. nov., sp. nov., a chitin-degrading bacterium found at the Barensee, Stuttgart, Germany.

Abstract

A bacterial strain named IGB-41T was isolated from a soil sample of an ant hill near Stuttgart, Germany. The strain is Gram-negative, rod-shaped, motile and facultatively anaerobic. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rDNA grouped the strain IGB-41T within the Betaproteobacteria into the family Neisseriaceae together with Silvimonas amylolytica NBRC 103189T, Silvimonas iriomotensis NBRC 103188T and Silvimonas terrae KM-45T as closest relatives with sequence identities of 96.7, 96.6, 96.1% respectively. The G+C content of genomic DNA was determined to be 61.5 mol% and quinone analysis revealed Q-8 as the only detectable quinone. Major cellular fatty acids were identified as C16:0, summed feature 3 (iso-C15:0 2-OH, C16:1ω7c) and C18:1ω7c. IGB-41T was unique in harbouring phosphoaminolipids, aminolipids and glycoaminolipids when compared to Silvimonas amylolytica NBRC 103189T in polar lipid analysis. On the basis of the physiologic, pheno- and genotypic characteristics of strain IGB-41T we suggest the assignment of a novel genus and species with the name Amantichitinum ursilacus. The type species is Amantichitinum ursilacus and the type strain is IGB-41T (-DSM 23761T=CIP 110167T).