Pontibacter niistensis sp nov., isolated from forest soil

A Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterial strain, NII-0905(T), that was motile by gliding was isolated from soil of a dense forest collected from the Western Ghats of India and its taxonomic position was established. Strain NII-0905(T) contained MK-7 as the major menaquinone and anteiso-C-17:0, anteiso-C-15:0, iso-C-16:0 and iso-C-15:0 as the major cellular fatty acids. The DNA G + C content of strain NII-0905(T) was 51.47 mol%. 16S rRNA gene sequence-based phylogenetic analysis confirmed the placement of strain NII-0905(T) in the genus Pontibacter and strain NII-0905(T) exhibited 93.9-96.3% 16S rRNA sequence similarity with type strains of species of the genus Pontibacter. On the basis of genotypic and phenotypic evidence, strain NII-0905(T) is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Pontibacter, for which the name Pontibacter niistensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is NII-0905(T) (=NCIM 5339(T) =CCTCC AA 209057(T)).