RESULTS:

A neutrophilic iron-oxidizing and -reducing bacterium strain MIZ03T was previously isolated from a wetland in Ibaraki Japan. Here we report the detailed characteristics of this strain. It was motile with a single polar flagellum and Gram-stain-negative. It could grow not only chemolithoautotrophically but also chemoorganotrophically by aerobic respiration and fermentation. Major cellular fatty acids were C16 : 1  ω7c/C16 : 1  ω6c and C16 : 0. Phylogenetic analyses indicated that strain MIZ03T belonged to the genus Rhodoferax. This strain was closely related to Rhodoferax ferrireducens with 98.5 % of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity. Based on its phenotypic and genomic based characteristics we conclude that strain MIZ03T represents a new species in the genus Rhodoferax. We propose the name Rhodoferax lithotrophicus sp. nov. to accommodate this strain. The type strain is MIZ03T (=JCM 34246T=DSM 113266T). We also propose the name Rhodoferax koreensis sp. nov. of which the type strain is DCY110T (=KCTC 52288T=JCM 31441T) for the effectively but not yet validly published name ‘Rhodoferax koreense’.