Correspondence

A Gram-stain-positive bacterial strain, S4-3T, was isolated from traditional pickle in Heilongjiang Province, China. The bacterium was characterized by a polyphasic approach, including 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, pheS gene sequence analysis, rpoA gene sequence analysis, dnaK gene sequence analysis, fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) analysis, determination of DNA G+C content, DNA–DNA hybridization and an analysis of phenotypic features. Strain S4-3T showed 97.9– 98.7 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities, 84.4–94.1 % pheS gene sequence similarities and 94.4–96.9 % rpoA gene sequence similarities to the type strains of Lactobacillus nantensis, Lactobacillus mindensis, Lactobacillus crustorum, Lactobacillus futsaii, Lactobacillus farciminis and Lactobacillus kimchiensis. dnaK gene sequence similarities between S4-3T and Lactobacillus nantensis LMG 23510T, Lactobacillus mindensis LMG 21932T, Lactobacillus crustorum LMG 23699T, Lactobacillus futsaii JCM 17355T and Lactobacillus farciminis LMG 9200T were 95.4, 91.5, 90.4, 91.7 and 93.1%, respectively. Based upon the data obtained in the present study, a novel species, Lactobacillus heilongjiangensis sp. nov., is proposed and the type strain is S4-3T (5LMG 26166T5NCIMB 14701T). Pickle is rich in lactic acid bacteria (LAB). In recent years