Pontibacter ruber sp nov and Pontibacter deserti sp nov., isolated from the desert

Two strains of bacteria, JC213(T) and JC215(T), were isolated from desert soil. Colonies were red to pink and cells Gram-stain-negative. Both strains were oxidase- and catalase-positive and hydrolysed casein. In both strains, phosphatidylethanolamine was the major polar lipid, iso-C-15:0 was the major fatty acid and the bacteriohopane derivative, BHD1, was the major hopanoid. The genomic DNA G+C contents of strains JC213(T) and JC215(T) were 52.7 and 46.3 mol%, respectively. 16S rRNA gene sequence comparisons indicated that both strains belong to the genus Pontibacter within the family Cytophagaceae and the phylum Bacteroidetes. Strain JC213(T) showed the highest sequence similarity to Pontibacter populi HLY7-15(T) (96.6%) and with other species of the genus Pontibacter sequence similarity was less than 96%. Strain JC215(T) exhibited highest sequence similarity with Pontibacter lucknowensis DM9(T) (95.1%) and shared 95% or less sequence similarity with other species of the genus Pontibacter. The sequence similarity between strains JC213(T) and JC215(T) was 95.8%. Distinct morphological, physiological and genotypic differences from previously described taxa support JC213(T) and JC215(T) being representatives of two novel species of the genus Pontibacter, for which the names Pontibacter ruber sp. nov. and Pontibacter deserti sp. nov. are proposed and the type strains are JC213(T) (=KCTC 32442(T)=LMG 27669(T)) and JC215(T) (=KCTC 32443(T)=LMG 27670(T)), respectively.