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Three Gram-negative, rod-shaped, catalase-and oxidase-positive, facultatively anaerobic and motile bacteria, strains WS 4538, WS 4539 T and WS 4540, were isolated from the surfaces of two fully ripened French red smear soft cheeses. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, all three strains were shown to belong to the genus Vibrio. They are most closely related to Vibrio rumoiensis S-1 T (96.3 % similarity) and Vibrio litoralis MANO22D T (95.9 %). DNA-DNA hybridization confirmed that all three isolates belong to the same species and clearly separated strain WS 4539 T from V. rumoiensis DSM 19141 T (38-42 % relatedness) and V. litoralis DSM 17657 T (28-37 %). In contrast to their nearest relatives, the strains exhibited b-galactosidase and aesculin hydrolase activities. A 14 bp insertion in the 16S rRNA gene sequence forms an elongated structure at helix 10 in the rRNA molecule and provides a tool for PCR-based identification of the novel species. Partial sequences of the housekeeping genes atpA, recA, rpoA and pyrH supported the conclusion that the three isolates constitute a separate species within the genus Vibrio. The name Vibrio casei sp. nov. is proposed for the novel taxon. Strain WS 4539 T (5DSM 22364 T 5LMG 25240 T ; DNA G+C content 41.8 mol%) is the type strain and WS 4540 (5DSM 22378 5LMG 25241) is a reference strain.The family Vibrionaceae (Baumann & Schubert, 1984) belongs to the class Gammaproteobacteria and includes, amongst others, the genera Photobacterium , Salinivibrio (Mellado et al., 1996) and Vibrio. At the time of writing, the genus Vibrio consists of 72 recognized species that form nine phylogenetically distinct clades (Association of Vibrio Biologists; http:// www.vibriobiology.net/). The clearly separated rumoiensis clade consists of Vibrio rumoiensis (Yumoto et al., 1999) and Vibrio litoralis (Nam et al., 2007) and forms a distant lineage within the genus. Micro-organisms belonging to the genus Vibrio are known to live either freely or associated as symbionts with aquatic animals in marine or estuarine waters (Browne-Silva & Nishiguchi, 2008) or as parasites of fish, crustaceans and molluscs (Thompson et al., 2004). Vibrio species have been reported less frequently as members of microbial consortia on cheese surfaces (Feurer et al., 2004), but some studies have suggested that they play a role in the ripening process (ElBaradei et al., 2007).The composition of the surface microbial consortia of two French smear-ripened cheeses, Petit Munster Ermitage and Reflets de France Petit Livarot, was analysed using Fouriertransform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy (Kümmerle et al., 1998;Naumann et al., 1991). After 5 days of aerobic incubation at 10-30 u C, isolates were picked randomly from fully grown plate count agar plates, supplemented with 3 % NaCl (PC3+). The cell densities of the surface consortia were 6610 9 c.f.u. ml 21 (Munster) and 4610 10 c.f.u. ml 21 (Livarot). Strains WS 4538 and WS 4539 T were isolated from the Munster cheese at the Fromagerie de l'Ermitage, Bulgnéville, France ...

A novel halophilic, Gram-reaction-negative, strictly aerobic, non-motile, rod-shaped and oxidaseand catalase-positive bacterial strain, designated WCC 4520 T , was isolated from a semi-hard, Raclette-type cheese. The colonies were yellow-orange; flexirubin-type pigments were not found. The strain hydrolysed gelatin, hippurate, tyrosine and Tweens 20 and 80. Optimal growth was observed with 6-8 % (w/v) NaCl, at pH 7-8 and at 27-30 6C. The genomic DNA G+C content was 33.6 mol%. In phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences, strain WCC 4520 T appeared to be a member of the family Flavobacteriaceae and the closest phylogenetic neighbours were identified as Psychroflexus gondwanensis DSM 5423 T (94.0 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity) and Psychroflexus salinarum CCUG 56752 T (94.0 %). The predominant cellular fatty acids were iso-C 15 : 0 , anteiso-C 15 : 0 , iso-C 15 : 1 G and iso-C 17 : 0 3-OH. The only detected quinone was MK-6 and the major polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine, an unidentified aminolipid and an unidentified polar lipid. Minor polar lipids and traces of polyamines were also detected. On the basis of the data presented, strain WCC 4520 T represents a novel species of the genus Psychroflexus, for which the name Psychroflexus halocasei sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is WCC 4520 T (5LMG 25857 T 5CCUG 59705 T ).At the time of its creation, the genus Psychroflexus, a member of the family Flavobacteriaceae (Bernardet et al., 2002), comprised Gram-staining-negative, non-motile or slowly gliding, psychrophilic or psychrotolerant, slightly or moderately halophilic, rod-like bacteria with genomic DNA G+C contents of 32-36 mol% (Bowman et al., 1998). Unfortunately, the type strain of the type species of this genus, Psychroflexus torquis 651 T , is no longer available from the CIP, LMG or ACAM culture collections and it is questionable whether it can still be used in physiological and biochemical analyses. At the time of writing, the genus Psychroflexus comprised five recognized species: P. gondwanensis (Dobson et al., 1993;Bowman et al., 1998), P. torquis (Bowman et al., 1998) (Euzéby, 2012). All known strains in the genus Psychroflexus have been isolated from seawater, marine salterns or hypersaline lakes.In this report, we describe a novel strain, designated WCC 4520 T , that was isolated from the salted surface of a cheese. When the taxonomy of this strain was investigated, using a polyphasic approach, the strain was identified as a novel species in the genus Psychroflexus. Strain WCC 4520T was isolated from a semi-hard, Raclettetype cheese that had a defective, unusually sticky surface. Raclette is one of several 'red-smear' cheeses that, as part of the ripening process, are inoculated with microbial consortia that have been washed off the surfaces of mature cheeses with brine. The microbial 'red-smear' consortium from the defective cheese was unusual in being yelloworange and slimy to sticky. The cheese had been produced in an Austrian dairy and then ripened in a cliff cave at...

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