A report of 28 unrecorded bacterial species, phylum Bacteroidetes, in Korea

Abstract

In order to investigate indigenous prokaryotic species diversity in Korea, various environmental samples from diverse ecosystems were examined. Isolated bacterial strains were identified based on 16S rRNA gene sequences, and those exhibiting at least 98.7% sequence similarity with known bacterial species, but not reported in Korea, were selected as unrecorded species. 28 unrecorded bacterial species belonging to the phylum Bacteroidetes were discovered from various habitats including wastewater, freshwater, freshwater sediment, wet land, reclaimed land, plant root, bird feces, seawater, sea sand, tidal flat sediment, a scallop, marine algae, and seaweed. The unrecorded species were assigned to 18 different genera in five families: Flavobacterium, Epilithonimonas, Dokdonia, Gillisia, Flavicella, Chryseobacterium, Algibacter, Aquimarina, Lacinutrix, Gaetbulibacter, Cellulophaga, Tenacibaculum, and Maribacter of Flavobacteriaceae, Dyadobacter of Cytophagaceae, Draconibacterium of Draconibacterium_f, Sunxiuqinia of Prolixibacteraceae, and Fulvivirga of Fulvivirga_f. The selected isolates were subjected to further taxonomic characterization including analysis of Gram reaction, cellular and colonial morphology, biochemical activities, and phylogenetic trees. Descriptive information of the 28 unrecorded species is provided.