Abstract
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 JSS7(T) (=KCTC 2881(T)=KCCM 41067(T)), Sphingomonas koreensis sp. nov. for strains JSS26(T) (=KCTC 2882(T)=KCCM 41069(T)) and JSS28 (=KCTC 2883=KCCM 41066) and Sphingomonas taejonensis sp. nov. for strain JSS54(T) (=KCTC 2884(T)=KCCM 41068(T)).