Serratia fonticola, a New Species from Water

Abstract

Twenty strains of Enterobacteriaceae isolated from water are assigned to a new species in the genus Serratia on the basis of phenetic (numerical analysis) and genetic (deoxyribonucleic acid [DNA]-DNA hybridization) evidence. They are closely related to each other (75 to 91% DNA-DNA relatedness) and show 50% DNA relatedness with species of Serratia but only 20 to 30% relatedness with other members of the family Enterobacteriaceae. The strains are acetoin, gelatinase, and deoxyribonuclease negative, but lysine, ornithine decarboxylase, and Tween-esterase positive. They are metabolically very active, fermenting all the sugars and alcohols tested except melezitose, inulin and sorbose. The name Serratia fonticola is proposed for these strains. Strain 11 (= ATCC 29844) is the type strain of the species.