Phenylobacterium deserti sp. nov., isolated from desert soil

Abstract

A novel bacterial strain, designated YIM 73061T, was isolated from the Cholistan desert in Punjab, Pakistan, and characterized by using a polyphasic taxonomic approach. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed the highest levels of sequence similarity with respect to Phenylobacterium conjunctum FWC21T (97.6%), Phenylobacterium lituiforme FaiI3T (97.4%), Phenylobacterium composti 4T-6T (97.0%) and Phenylobacterium aquaticum W2-3-4T (96.8%). Cells were Gram-stain-negative, aerobic and motile rods that formed orange colonies. The strain was oxidase- and catalase-positive. Growth occurred at 20– 40 °C (optimum, 30–37 °C) at pH 5.0–8.0 (optimum, pH 7.0) and with 0–1%(w/v) NaCl (optimum, 0–0.5%). The major cellular fatty acids (>10%) were summed feature 8 (comprising C18: 1ω7c and/or C18: 1ω6c) and C16: 0. The polar lipid profile consisted of phosphatidylglycerol and four unidentified glycolipids. The major isoprenoid quinone was ubiquinone-10 (Q-10). The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 66.8 mol%. Strain YIM 73061T showed low levels of DNA–DNA relatedness to P. conjunctum FWC21T (27.2±2.6%), P. lituiforme FaiI3T (24.6±1.1%) and P. composti 4T-6T (18.4±3.1%). On the basis of phylogenetic inference, chemotaxonomic characteristics and phenotypic data, strain YIM 73061T should be classified as representing a novel species, for which the name Phenylobacterium deserti sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is YIM 73061T (=DSM 103871T=CCTCC AB 2016297T).