Polyvinyl-alcohol-degrading bacteria were isolated from the fruit of a grape in Yokosuka, Japan. The isolated strain, Zumi 37(T), was a Gram-stain-negative, rod-shaped, motile, non-spore-forming and strictly aerobic chemo-organotroph, showing optimal growth at pH 7.5, 30 °C and 0.1% (w/v) NaCl. The major respiratory quinone was Q-8. The predominant fatty acids were iso-C(15 : 0), C(16 : 0) and C(16 : 1)ω7c. The major polyamines were homospermidine and putrescine. The predominant polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylethanolamine. The DNA G+C content of the novel strain was 64.2 mol%. 16S rRNA gene sequence comparison revealed that strain Zumi 37(T) belongs to the family Sinobacteraceae within the class Gammaproteobacteria. Steroidobacter denitrificans DSM 18526(T) was the most closely related species with a validly published name, with 98.0% similarity based on 16S rRNA gene sequence comparison (and showed less than 87.5% sequence similarity to members of the genera Alkanibacter, Fontimonas, Hydrocarboniphaga, Nevskia and Solimonas with known 16S rRNA gene sequences). Phenotypes for growth under aerobic conditions and on complex media and major fatty acid composition, differed greatly from those of with comparatively high 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity. Based on phylogenetic, phenotypic and chemotaxonomic evidence, it is proposed that strain Zumi 37(T) represents a novel species in a new genus for which the name Povalibacter uvarum gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of the type species is Zumi 37(T) ( = JCM 18749(T) = DSM 26723(T)).
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