Pontibacter yuliensis sp nov, isolated from soil

A Gram-staining-negative, rod-shaped and pink bacterium was isolated from the soil of a Populus euphratica forest in the Taklamakan desert, Xinjiang, China. It was designated strain H9XT. A 16S rRNA gene sequence homology search indicated that the isolate was most closely related to the family Cytophagaceae. The 16S rRNA gene of strain H9XTdisplayed 94.2–96.3 % sequence identities to those of type strains of other species of the genus Pontibacter. It only possessed menaquinone-7. The major cellular fatty acids of the novel isolate were iso-C15 : 0, C16 : 1ω5c summed feature 3 (containing C16 : 1ω6c and/or C16 : 1ω7c) and summed feature 4 (comprising anteiso-C17 : 1 B and/or iso-C17 : 1 I). The major polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine, one unknown aminophospholipid, one unknown glycophospholipid and several unknown phospholipids. The DNA G+C content of this bacterium was 55.2 mol%. Based on the phenotypic and genotypic data presented, it can be concluded that this isolate represents a novel species of the genus Pontibacter, for which the name Pontibacter yuliensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is H9XT ( = CCTCC AB 2013047T = KCTC 32396T).