Azospirillum picis sp. nov., isolated from discarded tar

A polyphasic taxonomic study was performed on a pink-coloured unknown bacterium isolated from discarded road tar. Comparative analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence demonstrated that the isolate belongs phylogenetically to the genus Azospirillum with Azospirillum lipoferum, A. melinis and A. rugosum as its closest phylogenetic relatives (96.7, 96.6 and 96.6 % similarity to the respective type strains). The generic assignment was confirmed on the basis of chemotaxonomic data, which revealed a fatty acid profile characteristic for the genus Azospirillum, consisting of straight-chain saturated and unsaturated fatty acids, with C(18 : 1)omega7c as the major unsaturated non-hydroxylated fatty acid, and C(16 : 0) 3-OH as the major hydroxylated fatty acid, and a ubiquinone with ten isoprene units (Q-10) as the predominant respiratory quinone. On the basis of both the phenotypic and molecular genetic evidence, it is proposed that the unknown isolate should be classified within a novel species of the genus Azospirillum, for which the name Azospirillum picis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is IMMIB TAR-3(T) (=CCUG 55431(T) =DSM 19922(T)).