Xenophilus aerolatus sp. nov., isolated from air

Abstract

A novel aerobic, Gram-negative, motile, rod-shaped bacterial strain designated 5516S-2T was isolated from an air sample taken in Suwon, Republic of Korea. Colonies were yellow-pigmented and circular with entire margins. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that strain 5516S-2T was closely related to Xylophilus ampelinus DSM 7250T (97.6 % sequence similarity), Variovorax soli KACC 11579T (97.5 %) and Xenophilus azovorans DSM 13620T (97.1 %). However, the phylogenetic tree indicated that strain 5516S-2T formed a separate clade from Xenophilus azovorans. Strain 5516S-2T displayed 42, 31 and 30 % DNA–DNA relatedness to the type strains of Xenophilus azovorans, Xylophilus ampelinus and V. soli, respectively. The major fatty acids (>10 % of total fatty acids) were C16 : 0 (33.3 %), C17 : 0 cyclo (18.8 %), C18 : 1 ω7c (17.5 %) and summed feature 3 (comprising C16 : 1 ω7c and/or iso-C15 : 0 2-OH; 13.0 %). The DNA G+C content was 69 mol%. The major quinone was ubiquinone Q-8. The predominant polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol and two unknown aminophospholipids. Genotypic and phenotypic characteristics clearly distinguished strain 5516S-2T from closely related species and indicated that it represents a novel species within the genus Xenophilus, for which the name Xenophilus aerolatus sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is 5516S-2T (=KACC 12602T=DSM 19424T).