Sphingomonas aquatilis sp. nov., Sphingomonas koreensis sp. nov., and Sphingomonas taejonensis sp. nov., yellow-pigmented bacteria isolated from natural mineral water.

The taxonomic status of four strains from several mineral water sources in Taejon, Korea, was examined. The DNA base compositions of these strains ranged from 62 to 66 mol %. All of the strains contained sphingolipids and ubiquinone 10 as the main respiratory quinone. The cellular fatty acids of these strains included octadecenoic acid, hexadecanoic acid and 2-hydroxymyristic acid, without 3-hydroxy fatty acids. On the basis of morphological, physiological and chemotaxonomic characteristics, together with 16S rDNA sequence comparison and DNA-DNA reassociation data, three new species of the genus Sphingomonas are proposed for the strains isolated from natural mineral water: Sphingomonas aquatilis sp. nov. for strain JSS7T (= KCTC 2881T = KCCM 41067T), Sphingomonas koreensis sp. nov. for strains JSS26T (= KCTC 2882T = KCCM 41069T) and JSS28 (= KCTC 2883 = KCCM 41066) and Sphingomonas taejonensis sp. nov. for strain JSS54T (= KCTC 2884T = KCCM 41068T).