Isolation and characterization of Fibrella aquatica sp. nov. from freshwater, Fibrella musci sp. nov. from moss on soil and Fibrella arboris sp. nov. from moss on a tree

Three Gram-negative, facultatively anaerobic, rod-shaped, non-motile and reddish-pigmented bacterial strains, designated GW2-5^T, WM1^T and Tmos10^T, were isolated from distinct environments in the Republic of Korea. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that the three strains belonged to the genus Fibrella. The type strain GW2-5ᵀ grew at temperatures of 10–35 °C (optimum: 25 °C), pH levels of 6.0–12.0 (optimum: pH 7.0) and NaCl concentrations of 0–0.5% (optimum: 0%). Strain WM1ᵀ grew at temperatures of 10–37 °C (optimum: 30 °C), pH levels of 5.0–12.0 (optimum: pH 7.0) and NaCl concentrations of 0–1% (optimum: 0%). Strain Tmos10ᵀ grew at temperatures of 10–35 °C (optimum: 25 °C), pH levels of 5.0–12.0 (optimum: pH 7.0) and NaCl concentrations of 0–0.5% (optimum: 0%). The three strains exhibited the highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity to Fibrella forsythiae HMF5405ᵀ (98.7%) for strain GW2-5ᵀ, Fibrella aestuarina BUZ 2ᵀ (98.7%) for strain WM1ᵀ and Fibrella forsythiae HMF5405ᵀ (96.6%) for strain Tmos10ᵀ. The average nucleotide identity values ranged from 73.5% to 86.6%, while the digital DNA–DNA hybridization values ranged from 19.5% to 31.4% between the three novel isolates and species belonging to the genus Fibrella. Based on phenotypic, physiological, biochemical, genomic and phylogenetic characteristics, strains GW2-5^T, WM1^T and Tmos10^T are proposed as novel species within the genus Fibrella. They are designated as Fibrella aquatica sp. nov. (type strain GW2-5^T=KACC 23817^T=TBRC 19128^T), Fibrella musci sp. nov. (type strain WM1^T=KACC 23815^T=TBRC 19127^T) and Fibrella arboris sp. nov. (type strain Tmos10^T=KACC 23816^T=TBRC 19129^T), respectively.