Hymenobacter tibetensis sp. nov., a UV-resistant bacterium isolated from Qinghai–Tibet plateau

A brick-red-pigmented strain (XTM003T) isolated from the Qinghai–Tibet plateau was investigated using a polyphasic taxonomy approach. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequence indicated that the organism belonged to the genus Hymenobacter. The predominant menaquinone was MK7. The major fatty acids included iso-15:0, 16:1w5c and summed feature 3 (C16: 1ω7c and/or C16: 1ω6c). The G+C content of the DNA was 55.8%. In addition, DNA–DNA hybridization studies demonstrated that strain XTM003T had a relatedness value of 50.7% with the phylogenetically most closely related species Hymenobacter norwichensis DSM 15439T. Based on the results of phenotypic characteristics and DNA–DNA hybridization studies, strain XTM003T is considered to represent a novel species, for which the name Hymenobacter tibetensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is XTM003T (=CCTCC AB 207089T=NRRL B-51271T).