Flavobacterium franklandianum sp. nov. and Flavobacterium gawalongense sp. nov., isolated from glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau

The genus Flavobacterium (family Flavobacteriaceae ) can be found in diverse environments. In this study, seven novel strains were isolated from glaciers in PR China and subjected to taxonomic research. Phylogenetic analyses based on the 16S rRNA gene revealed that the strains belonged to the genus Flavobacterium . None of the seven strains grew at temperatures above 22 °C, indicating that they are psychrophilic. Furthermore, the average nucleotide identity (ANI) values of the seven strains were calculated and indicated that they represented two novel species in Flavobacterium . Strain LB3P56 T was most closely related to Flavobacterium soyangense IMCC26223 T (97.70 %) and strain GSP16 T was most closely related to Flavobacterium sinopsychrotolerans 0533 T (98.03 %). The ANI values between the two Flavobacterium strains and their closest relatives were less than 83.47 %, which was much lower than the threshold for species delineation of 95–96 %. Therefore, we propose two novel species, Flavobacterium franklandianum sp. nov. (LB3P56 T =CGMCC 1.11934 T =NBRC 113651 T ) and Flavobacterium gawalongense sp. nov. (GSP16 T =CGMCC 1.24642 T =NBRC 113664 T ).