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

Abstract

Three Gram-negative, facultatively anaerobic, rod-shaped, non-motile and reddish-pigmented bacterial strains, designated GW2-5T, WM1T and Tmos10T, 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 GW2-5T, WM1T and Tmos10T are proposed as novel species within the genus Fibrella. They are designated as Fibrella aquatica sp. nov. (type strain GW2-5T=KACC 23817T=TBRC 19128T), Fibrella musci sp. nov. (type strain WM1T=KACC 23815T=TBRC 19127T) and Fibrella arboris sp. nov. (type strain Tmos10T=KACC 23816T=TBRC 19129T), respectively. © 2025 The Authors.