- Volume 59, Issue 12, 2009

A yellow-pigmented, hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH)-degrading bacterium, strain IP26T, was isolated from an HCH dumpsite and subjected to a polyphasic analysis in order to determine its taxonomic position. Strain IP26T showed maximum 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with Sphingobium francense Sp+T (98.5 %), Sphingobium japonicum UT26T (98.4 %) and Sphingobium indicum B90AT (98.2 %). Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences also showed that strain IP26T formed a cluster with these three HCH-degrading strains. Chemotaxonomic data (major polyamine, spermidine; major quinone, ubiquinone with ten isoprene units; major polar lipids, phosphatidylmonomethylethanolamine, phosphatidylethanolamine, diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphotidylcholine; and presence of 2-hydroxy fatty acid) supported inclusion of strain IP26T in the genus Sphingobium. However, the results of DNA–DNA hybridization and morphological and biochemical tests clearly allowed phenotypic and genotypic differentiation of strain IP26T from recognized species of the genus Sphingobium. Strain IP26T thus represents a novel species of the genus Sphingobium for which the name Sphingobium chinhatense sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is IP26T (=MTCC8598T =CCM 7432T).

Strain VC-230T was isolated from homemade vermicompost produced from kitchen waste. The isolate was a Gram-negative-staining, catalase- and oxidase-positive, motile rod-shaped bacterium able to grow at 15–37 °C and pH 6–8. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, strain VC-230T was determined to belong to the family Sphingomonadaceae by its clustering with type strains of the genus Sphingobium, with Sphingobium chlorophenolicum ATCC 33790T (97.7 %) and Sphingobium herbicidovorans DSM 11019T (97.4 %) as its closest neighbours. The polar lipid pattern, the presence of spermidine and ubiquinone 10, the predominance of the cellular fatty acids C18 : 1 ω7c/9t/12t, C16 : 1 ω7c and C16 : 0 and the G+C content of the genomic DNA supported the affiliation of this organism to the genus Sphingobium. The phylogenetic, chemotaxonomic, phenotypic and DNA–DNA hybridization analyses verify that strain VC-230T represents a novel species, for which the name Sphingobium vermicomposti sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is VC-230T (=CCUG 55809T =DSM 21299T).

A Gram-negative, motile and rod-shaped bacterial strain, BIO-TAS2-2T, of the class Alphaproteobacteria, was isolated from a soil in Korea and studied using a polyphasic taxonomic approach. Strain BIO-TAS2-2T grew optimally at pH 7.5–8.5 and 30 °C and in the presence of 0–1.0 % (w/v) NaCl. A neighbour-joining phylogenetic tree based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain BIO-TAS2-2T fell within the clade comprising species of the genus Brevundimonas, forming a coherent cluster with Brevundimonas terrae KSL-145T and Brevundimonas diminuta LMG 2089T. It exhibited 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity values of 96.0–98.7 % to members of the genus Brevundimonas and Mycoplana bullata IAM 13153T. Strain BIO-TAS2-2T contained Q-10 as the predominant ubiquinone and cyclo-C18 : 1 ω7c and C16 : 0 as the major fatty acids. The DNA G+C content was 67.0 mol%. Strain BIO-TAS2-2T exhibited DNA–DNA relatedness levels of 12–19 % with the type strains of phylogenetically related Brevundimonas species and M. bullata. The novel strain could be differentiated from Brevundimonas species and M. bullata by differences in phenotypic characteristics. On the basis of phenotypic, phylogenetic and genetic data, strain BIO-TAS2-2T is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Brevundimonas, for which the name Brevundimonas naejangsanensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is BIO-TAS2-2T (=KCTC 22631T=CCUG 57609T). In this study, it is also proposed that Mycoplana bullata be transferred to the genus Brevundimonas as Brevundimonas bullata comb. nov. (type strain TK0051T=ATCC 4278T=DSM 7126T=JCM 20846T=LMG 17157T).