Kocuria arsenatis sp. nov., an arsenic-resistant endophytic actinobacterium associated with Prosopis laegivata grown on high-arsenic-polluted mine tailing

A Gram-stain-positive, aerobic, non-motile, coccoid, arsenic-resistant actinobacterial strain, designated CM1E1 T , was isolated from the lateral root tissue of Prosopis laegivata grown on a mine tailing in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain CM1E1 T was clustered closely with species of the genus Kocuria, and showed the highest sequence similarity of 98.7 % to Kocuria rhizophila TA68 T . The DNA G+C content of strain CM1E1 T was 74.5 mol% ( T m ). The major fatty acids were anteiso-C 15 : 0 , anteiso-C 17 : 0 and iso-C 15 : 0 . The peptidoglycan of the cell wall contained lysine and alanine. The major respiratory quinones were MK-7(H 2 ) and MK-8(H 2 ). On the basis of the phenotypic characterization, phylogenetic relationships and chemotaxonomic analyses, strain CM1E1 T represents a novel species of the genus Kocuria , for which the name Kocuria arsenatis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is CM1E1 T ( = CCBAU 101092 T  = HAMBI 3625 T  = LMG 28671 T ).