Flavobacterium phragmitis sp. nov., an endophyte of reed (Phragmites australis).

A Gram-staining-negative bacterium, designated strain BLN2T, was isolated from within the roots of reeds (Phragmites australis) in Beijing Cuihu Wetland (China) and characterized using a polyphasic taxonomic approach. The cells were yellow-pigmented, rod-shaped, strictly aerobic and devoid of flagella, but showed gliding motility. Strain BLN2T produced yellow, translucent, circular and convex colonies, with optimal growth at 30 °C and pH 7.0. The major respiratory quinone was menaquinone 6 (MK-6) and the predominant fatty acids were iso-C15 : 0, summed feature 3 (comprising C16 : 1ω7c and/or C16 : 1ω6c), C16 : 0 3-OH, C16 : 0, iso-C17 : 0 3-OH and iso-C15 : 0 3-OH. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 34.8 mol%. The 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that strain BLN2T belonged to the genus Flavobacterium and was most closely related to Flavobacterium anhuiense CGMCC 1.6859T (97.0 % sequence similarity). The DNA–DNA relatedness between strain BLN2T and F. anhuiense CGMCC 1.6859T was 25.7 %. Based on the phenotypic data and phylogenetic inference presented, it is concluded that strain BLN2T represents a novel species within the genus Flavobacterium, for which the name Flavobacterium phragmitis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is BLN2T ( = DSM 23314T = CGMCC 1.10370T).