Bradyrhizobium hipponense sp. nov., isolated from Lupinus angustifolius growing in the northern region of Tunisia

Strain aSej3 T was isolated from a root nodule of a Lupinus angustifolius plant growing in Bizerte, Tunisia. 16S rRNA gene analysis placed this strain within the genus Bradyrhizobium . Multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA) including three housekeeping genes ( glnII , gyrB and recA ) grouped aSej3 T together with Bradyrhizobium rifense CTAW71 T , Bradyrhizobium cytisi CTAW11 T , Bradyrhizobium ganzhouense RITF806 T , Bradyrhizobium lupini USDA 3051 T and Bradyrhizobium canariense BTA-1 T . MLSA with five housekeeping genes ( dnaK , glnII , gyrB , recA and rpoB ) revealed that this strain shares less than 93.5 % nucleotide identity with other type strains. Genome sequencing and inspection revealed a genome size of 8.83 Mbp with a G+C content of 62.8 mol%. Genome-wide average nucleotide identity and digital DNA–DNA hybridization values were below 87.5 and 36.2 %, respectively, when compared to described Bradyrhizobium species. Strain aSej3 T nodulated L. angustifolius plants under axenic conditions and its nodC gene clustered within the genistearum symbiovar. Altogether, the phylogenetic data and the chemotaxonomic characteristics of this strain support that aSej3 T represents a new species for which we propose the name Bradyrhizobium hipponense sp. nov. with the type strain aSej3 T (=DSM 108913 T =LMG 31020 T ).