Flexivirga endophytica sp. nov., an endophytic actinobacterium isolated from a leaf of Sweet Basil

A Gram-reaction-positive, aerobic, non-motile, irregular coccoid strain, designated YIM 7505T, was isolated from a leaf of Sweet Basil. Phylogenetic analysis on the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence comparisons revealed that strain YIM 7505T was closely related to Flexivirga alba NBRC 107580T (98.9 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity) and formed a robust clade with F. alba NBRC 107580T in the neighbour-joining tree. Optimum growth of strain YIM 7505T was observed at 28-35 °C, pH 7.0 and in the presence of 0-3.0 % NaCl (w/v). The chemotaxonomic profiles of the strain comprised of anteiso-C16 : 0 as the major cellular fatty acid and MK-8(H4) as the respiratory menaquinone. The peptidoglycan of strain YIM 7505T contained serine, alanine, glycine, glutamic acid and lysine. The polar lipids contained diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, six unidentified phospholipids, four unidentified glycolipids, an unidentified aminolipid and an unidentified aminophospholipid. The G+C contents of the genomic DNA of strain YIM 7505T was 66.7 mol%. DNA-DNA hybridizations of strain YIM 7505T with F. alba NBRC 107580T gave relatedness values of 50.6±2.2 %. On the basis of the data recorded from the present study, strain YIM 7505T is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Flexivirga, for which the name Flexivirga endophytica sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is YIM 7505T (=KCTC 39536T=CGMCC 1.15085T).