Terrabacter aerolatus sp. nov., isolated from an air sample

Abstract

A Gram-positive, strictly aerobic, motile, rod- or coccoid-shaped bacterium, strain 5516J-36T, was isolated from an air sample from Jeju region, Korea, and its taxonomic position was investigated by a polyphasic approach. The organism grew optimally at 30 °C and pH 7.0–8.0. Comparative 16S rRNA gene sequencing studies demonstrated that this strain was highly related phylogenetically to Terrabacter terrae PPLBT and Terrabacter tumescens DSM 20308T, showing 98.9 % sequence similarity to both strains. However, the DNA–DNA reassociation values between 5516J-36T and the type strains of Terrabacter terrae and Terrabacter tumescens were low (51 and 48 %, respectively). The peptidoglycan type was A3γ, the predominant menaquinone was MK-8(H4), the polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine, diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylinositol and an unidentified phosphoglycolipid and the whole-cell sugars were glucose, ribose, rhamnose, xylose and galactose. Mycolic acids were absent. The major fatty acids (>5 % of total fatty acids) were iso-C15 : 0, iso-C16 : 0, iso-C14 : 0, iso-C17 : 0 and anteiso-C15 : 0. The DNA G+C content was 71.7 mol%. On the basis of the above data, it is proposed that strain 5516J-36T represents a novel species, Terrabacter aerolatus sp. nov. The type strain of Terrabacter aerolatus is 5516J-36T (=KACC 20556T =DSM 18562T).