Correspondence

A bacterial strain, DC-186T, isolated from home-made compost, was characterized for its phenotypic and phylogenetic properties. The isolate was a Gram-negative rod that was able to grow at 15–36 6C and pH 5.5–8.0. Strain DC-186T was positive in tests for catalase, oxidase and b-galactosidase activities and aesculin hydrolysis. The predominant fatty acids were the summed feature C16: 1/iso-C15: 0 2-OH (42 %) and iso-C15: 0 (26 %), the major respiratory quinone was menaquinone-7 and the genomic DNA G+C content was 42 mol%. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis and phenetic characterization indicated that this organism belongs to the phylum Bacteroidetes and revealed its affiliation to the family Sphingobacteriaceae. Of recognized taxa, strain DC-186T was most closely related to Sphingobacterium daejeonense (90 % sequence similarity) based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. The low 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with other recognized taxa and the identification of distinctive phenetic features for this isolate support the definition of a new genus within the family Sphingobacteriaceae. The name Pseudosphingobacterium domesticum gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed, with strain DC-186T (=CCUG 54353T=LMG 23837T) as the type strain. In a study of culturable heterotrophic bacteria in composts