Pantoea coffeiphila sp. nov., cause of the ‘potato taste’ of Arabica coffee from the African great lakes region

Abstract

Six isolates recovered from coffee seeds giving off a potato-like flavour were studied. Gene sequencing (rrs and rpoB) showed they belong to the genusPantoea. By DNA–DNA hybridization, the isolates constituted a genomic species with less than 17 % relatedness to 96 strains representing enterobacterial species. Multilocus sequence analysis (gyrB, rpoB, atpD andinfB genes) showed the isolates to represent a discrete species of the genusPantoea. Nutritional versatility of the novel species was poor. The novel species is proposed as Pantoea coffeiphila sp.nov. and its type strain is Ca04T( = CIP 110718T = DSM 28482T).