Leucobacter chromiiresistens sp. nov., a chromate-resistant strain

A Gram-positive, irregular rod-shaped, non-motile, yellow-pigmented bacterium, strain JG 31(T), was isolated in the course of identifying chromium-resistant soil bacteria. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis of the isolated bacterium indicated its phylogenetic position within the genus Leucobacter. Binary 16S rRNA gene sequence alignments of the isolated bacterium with the 11 species of the genus recognized at the time of writing revealed sequence similarities of more than 97 % with Leucobacter alluvii (GenBank accession no: AM072820; 99.4 %), Leucobacter iarius (AM040493; 98.2 %), Leucobacter aridicollis (AJ781047; 97.8 %), Leucobacter komagatae (AB007419; 97.4 %), Leucobacter chironomi (EU346911; 97.1 %) and Leucobacter luti (AM072819; 97.1 %). In contrast, DNA-DNA hybridization experiments showed similarity values below 28 % for DNA samples from the most closely related type strains of L. alluvii, L. aridicollis and L. iarius. Protein analysis by matrix-assisted laser-desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) and automated RiboPrinting using the restriction enzyme PvuII differentiated strain JG 31(T) from all type strains of the genus Leucobacter. The dominant fatty acids of the novel isolate were anteiso-C(15 : 0), anteiso-C(17 : 0) and iso-C(16 : 0), while the quinone system consisted of menaquinones MK-11, MK-10, MK-9 and MK-8. In a B-type cross-linked peptidoglycan, the cell-wall amino acids were alanine, glycine, threonine, glutamic acid and 2,4-diaminobutyric acid. Strain JG 31(T) was able to grow in a medium containing up to 300 mM K(2)CrO(4) and showed cellular aggregation in response to chromate stress. From biochemical and genomic analyses, the new strain is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Leucobacter, for which the name Leucobacter chromiiresistens sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is strain JG 31(T) ( = DSM 22788(T)  = CCOS 200(T)).