Noviherbaspirillum aridicola sp. nov., isolated from an arid soil in Pakistan

Abstract

Strain NCCP-691T was isolated from a soil sample collected from an arid soil in Karak, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Phenotypically, the cells were Gram-stain-negative, aerobic and motile rods. The organism was able to grow between 20–40 °C (optimum at 30–37 °C), at pH 5.5–8.0 (optimum at pH 7.0–7.2) and tolerated 0–1.5% NaCl (w/v) (optimum at 0–0.5). Based on 16S rRNA gene sequences, strain NCCP-691T formed a distinct phylogenetic clade with Noviherbaspirillum arenae , N . agri , N. denitrificans and N . autotrophicum (having sequence similarities of 99.0; 98.1; 98.0 and 97.7% respectively). Phylogenetic analyses based on the whole genome sequences confirmed that strain NCCP-691T should be affiliated to the genus Noviherbaspirillum . The average nucleotide identity values compared to other species of Noviherbaspirillum were below 95–96 % and digital DNA–DNA hybridization values were less than 70 %. Chemotaxonomic analyses showed that the strain had ubiquinone-8, as the only respiratory quinine. The major cellular fatty acids were summed feature 3 (C16 : 1 ω 7 c/C16 : 1 ω 6 c, 35.9 %), summed feature 8 (C18 : 1 ω 7 c/C18 : 1 ω 6 c, 26.9 %) and C16 : 0 (22.9 %) and the polar lipid profile was composed of diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylcholine. The genomic DNA G+C content was 65.5 mol% (from draft genome). Genome analyses showed that strain NCCP-691T had terpene and arylpolyene biosynthetic genes clusters and genes related to resistance against heavy metals. Based on phylogenetic analyses, phenotypic features and genomic comparison, it is proposed that strain NCCP-691T is a novel species of the genus Noviherbaspirillum and the name Noviherbaspirillum aridicola sp. nov. is proposed. Type strain is NCCP-691T (=KCTC 52721T=CGMCC 1.13600T).