Pedobacter arcticus sp. nov., a facultative psychrophile isolated from Arctic soil, and emended descriptions of the genus Pedobacter, Pedobacter heparinus, Pedobacter daechungensis, Pedobacter terricola, Pedobacter glucosidilyticus and Pedobacter lentus.

A Gram-stain-negative, short rod-shaped, motile (by gliding) bacterial strain, designated A12(T), was isolated from tundra soil collected from Ny-Ålesund, in the Arctic region of Norway. The temperature, NaCl and pH ranges for growth were 4-25 °C (optimum, 18 °C), 0-2% (optimum, 0%) and pH 6-9 (optimum, pH 7). Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that the Arctic isolate belonged to the genus Pedobacter and showed highest sequence similarity (94.4%) to Pedobacter daechungensis KCTC 12637(T). The DNA G+C content (38.3 mol%), polar lipid profile, presence of sphingolipid, MK-7 as the only respiratory quinone, and summed feature 3 (comprising C(16:1)ω7c and/or C(16:1)ω6c), iso-C(15:0) and iso-C(17:0) 3-OH as major fatty acids supported the allocation of strain A12(T) to the genus Pedobacter as a representative of a novel species, for which the name Pedobacter arcticus sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is A12(T) ( = CCTCC AB 2010223(T) = NRRL B-59457(T)). Emended descriptions of the genus Pedobacter and of Pedobacter heparinus, Pedobacter daechungensis, Pedobacter terricola, Pedobacter glucosidilyticus and Pedobacter lentus are also given.