Sphingomonas gei sp. nov., isolated from roots of Geum aleppicum

A yellow-pigmented bacterium, designated strain ZFGT-11(T), was isolated from roots of Geum aleppicum Jacq. collected from Taibai Mountain in Shaanxi Province, north-west China, and was subjected to a taxonomic study by using a polyphasic approach. Cells of strain ZFGT-11(T) were Gram-stain-negative, strictly aerobic rods that were surrounded by a thick capsule and were motile by means of a single polar flagellum. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain ZFGT-11(T) was a member of the genus Sphingomonas and was closely related to Sphingomonas naasensis KACC 16534(T) (97.6% similarity), Sphingomonas kyeonggiense JCM 18825(T) (96.8%), Sphingomonas asaccharolytica IFO 15499(T) (96.7%) and Sphingomonas leidyi DSM 4733(T) (96.6%). The predominant respiratory quinone was ubiquinone-10 (Q-10) and the major cellular fatty acids were summed feature 8 (comprising C(18 : 1)ω7c and/or C(18 : 1)ω6c), C(17 : 1)ω6c, C(14 : 0) 2-OH, C(16 : 0) and C(15 : 0) 2-OH. The major polyamine of strain ZFGT-11(T) was sym-homospermidine. Phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylmonomethylethanolamine, phosphatidylcholine, sphingoglycolipid, two unidentified aminoglycolipids, two unidentified phospholipids and two unidentified lipids were detected in the polar lipid profile. The DNA G+C content was 66.8 mol%. DNA-DNA relatedness for strain ZFGT-11(T) with respect to its closest phylogenetic relative S. naasensis KACC 16534(T) was 26.2±4.8% (mean±SD). On the basis of data from the present polyphasic taxonomic study, strain ZFGT-11(T) is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Sphingomonas , for which the name Sphingomonas gei sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is ZFGT-11(T) ( = CCTCC AB 2013306(T) = KCTC 32449(T) = LMG 27608(T)).