Sphingomonas soli sp. nov., a β-glucosidase-producing bacterium in the family Sphingomonadaceae in the α-4 subgroup of the Proteobacteria

Abstract

Strain T5-04T, a Gram-negative, non-spore-forming, rod-shaped bacterium, was isolated from soil of a ginseng field in South Korea and characterized in order to determine its taxonomic position. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed that strain T5-04T belongs to the α-4 subgroup of the Proteobacteria, and the highest degrees of sequence similarity determined were to Sphingomonas asaccharolytica IFO 10564T (97·5 %), Sphingomonas koreensis JSS26T (97·1 %), Sphingomonas mali IFO 15500T (96·7 %) and Sphingomonas pruni IFO 15498T (96·6 %). Chemotaxonomic data revealed that strain T5-04T possesses ubiquinone Q-10 predominantly, C18 : 1 as the predominant fatty acid and sphingoglycolipids, all of which corroborate its assignment to the genus Sphingomonas. The results of DNA–DNA hybridization and physiological and biochemical tests clearly demonstrated that strain T5-04T represents a distinct species. Based on polyphasic evidence, T5-04T (=KCTC 12210T=NBRC 100801T=IAM 15213T) should be classified as the type strain of a novel Sphingomonas species, for which the name Sphingomonas soli sp. nov. is proposed.