Sphingomonas formosensis sp. nov., a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon-degrading bacterium isolated from agricultural soil

• Published in: International journal of systematic and evolutionary microbiology Vol. 62; no. Pt 7; pp. 1581 - 1586
• Main Authors: Lin, Shih-Yao, Shen, Fo-Ting, Lai, Wei-An, Zhu, Zhi-Long, Chen, Wen-Ming, Chou, Jui-Hsing, Lin, Zih-Yu, Young, Chiu-Chung
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Reading International Union of Microbiological Societies 01.07.2012; Society for General Microbiology
• Subjects: agricultural soils; Bacterial Typing Techniques; Bacteriology; Base Composition; biodegradation; Biological and medical sciences; chemotaxonomy; Cluster Analysis; DNA; DNA, Bacterial - chemistry; DNA, Bacterial - genetics; DNA, Ribosomal - chemistry; DNA, Ribosomal - genetics; fatty acids; Fatty Acids - analysis; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; genes; Gram-negative bacteria; Microbiology; Molecular Sequence Data; naphthalene; new species; nucleotide sequences; phenanthrene; phosphatidylcholines; phosphatidylethanolamines; Phospholipids - analysis; Phylogeny; Pigments, Biological - metabolism; polyamines; Polyamines - analysis; polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons - metabolism; Quinones - analysis; ribosomal RNA; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S - genetics; Sequence Analysis, DNA; sequence homology; Serine C-Palmitoyltransferase - metabolism; Soil Microbiology; sphingolipids; Sphingolipids - metabolism; Sphingomonas - classification; Sphingomonas - genetics; Sphingomonas - isolation & purification; Sphingomonas - metabolism; Sphingomonas wittichii; Systematics; Taiwan; ubiquinones; Taiwan; Persistent organic pollutant; Soils; Hydrocarbon; Taxonomy; Bacteria; Sphingomonas; New species; Polycyclic aromatic compound
• ISSN: 1466-5034; 1466-5026; 1466-5034
• DOI: 10.1099/ijs.0.034728-0

In the present study, a yellow-pigmented, Gram-negative, short rod-shaped novel bacterium that was capable of degrading a wide range of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (naphthalene, phenanthrene and pyrene) was isolated from agricultural soil located in Yunlin County, Taiwan. Comparative 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis positioned the novel strain in the genus Sphingomonas as an independent lineage adjacent to a subclade containing Sphingomonas fennica K101T, Sphingomonas histidinilytica UM2T, Sphingomonas wittichii RW1T and Sphingomonas haloaromaticamans A175T. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis of strain CC-Nfb-2T showed highest sequence similarity to S. fennica K101T (96.2 %), S. histidinilytica UM2T (96.1 %), S. wittichii RW1T (95.9 %), S. haloaromaticamans A175T (95.7 %), and Sphingobium ummariense RL-3T (94.7 %); lower sequence similarities were observed with strains of all other Sphingomonas species. The strain contained phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, sphingoglycolipid and diphosphatidylglycerol. The predominant fatty acids were summed feature 8 (C18 : 1ω7c and/or C18 : 1ω6c) C16 : 0 and 11-methyl C18 : 1ω7c; C14 : 0 2-OH was the major 2-hydroxy fatty acid. Previously, these lipids have been found to be characteristic of members of the genus Sphingomonas. The serine palmitoyl transferase gene (spt) was also detected and sphingolipid synthesis was confirmed. The predominant isoprenoid quinone system was ubiquinone (Q-10) and the isolate contained sym-homospermidine as the major polyamine. The DNA G+C content of the isolate was 62.8±0.8 mol%. On the basis of chemotaxonomic, phenotypic and phylogenetic data, strain CC-Nfb-2T represents a novel species within the genus Sphingomonas, for which the name Sphingomonas formosensis sp. nov. is proposed; the type strain is CC-Nfb-2T ( = BCRC 80272T = DSM 24164T).