Abstract

Eight bacterial strains isolated from diseased rainbow trout (n=5) and Atlantic salmon (n=3) were characterized by phenotypic and molecular taxonomic methods. The isolates were negative for the Gram-reaction, non-motile, rod-shaped and catalase- and oxidase-positive. Colonies on solid media were yellow, smooth, shiny and circular with regular edges. Growth occurred at 4-28 °C (optimum, 15 °C) and with 0-3 % NaCl (optimum, 0.5 %). Analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence allocated the micro-organisms to the genus Chryseobacterium, with Chryseobacterium soldanellicola PSD1-4T and Chryseobacterium soli JS6-6T as their closest relatives (96.9 and 97.1 % sequence similarity, respectively). The levels of DNA-DNA hybridization towards these nearest phylogenetic neighbours were below 17.1 %. The DNA G+C contents of strains VQ-6316sT and VQ-4836s were 32.5 and 32.3 mol%, respectively. The predominant menaquinone was MK-6 and the major fatty acids were iso-C15:0, anteiso-C15:0, iso-C17:1?9c, iso-C17:0 3-OH and summed feature 3 (comprising C16:1?7c and/or C16:1?7t and/or iso-C15:0 2-OH). The eight isolates were classified as representatives of a novel species, Chryseobacterium piscicola sp. nov., with strain VQ-6316sT (=CECT 7357T=DSM 21068T) as the type strain. © 2009 IUMS.