Description of Flavobacterium fructosi sp. nov., Flavobacterium xylosi sp. nov. and Flavobacterium zhouii sp. nov., three new members of the genus Flavobacterium

Three novel strains, designated LB3P45^T, LS2P90^T and ZS1P70^T, were isolated from glaciers located on the Tibetan Plateau, PR China. These strains were Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, rod-shaped and yellow or orange coloured. Phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene and genomic sequences indicated that they belong to the genus <i>Flavobacterium</i>. The 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity among the three strains ranged from 97.4 to 98.6%. Strain LB3P45^T showed 98.9% and 98.7% similarity to <i>Flavobacterium urumqiense</i> CGMCC 1.9230^T and <i>Flavobacterium xinjiangense</i> JCM 11314^T, respectively. Strain LS2P90^T displayed 99.0% and 98.7% similarity to <i>F. xinjiangense</i> JCM 11314^T and <i>F. urumqiense</i> CGMCC 1.9230^T. Strain ZS1P70^T had the highest sequence similarity with <i>F. xinjiangense</i> JCM 11314^T (98.0%) and <i>F. urumqiense</i> CGMCC 1.9230^T (97.8%). The average nucleotide identity and digital DNA-DNA hybridization values between these strains and their closest relatives were lower than 93.0% and 47.9%, respectively. All three strains contained summed feature 3 (comprising C_16:1 <i>ω7</i>c and/or C_16:1 <i>ω6</i>c) as the major fatty acids. Based on phenotypic characteristics, phylogenetic analysis and genotypic data, the three novel species are proposed: <i>Flavobacterium fructosi</i> sp. nov. (LB3P45^T=CGMCC 1.11439^T=NBRC 114819^T), <i>Flavobacterium xylosi</i> sp. nov. (LS2P90^T=CGMCC 1.11685^T=NBRC 114823^T) and <i>Flavobacterium zhouii</i> sp. nov. (ZS1P70^T=CGMCC 1.24124^T=NBRC 114829^T).