Agromyces soli sp. nov., isolated from farm soil

A Gram-positive, aerobic to microaerophilic, non-motile bacterial strain, designated MJ21(T), was isolated from farm soil and was characterized to determine its taxonomic position by using a polyphasic approach. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, strain MJ21(T) was placed within the genus Agromyces, and exhibited relatively high levels of similarity to Agromyces ulmi XIL01(T) (97.8 %), Agromyces aurantiacus YIM 21741(T) (97.1 %), Agromyces mediolanus JCM 3346(T) (96.7 %), A. mediolanus JCM 1376 (99.1 %), A. mediolanus JCM 9632 (99.1 %), A. mediolanus JCM 9633 (98.9 %) and A. mediolanus JCM 9631 (96.5 %). Chemotaxonomic data also supported the classification of strain MJ21(T) within the genus Agromyces. The new isolate contained MK-12 as the predominant menaquinone and rhamnose, galactose and xylose as cell-wall sugars. The major cellular fatty acids (>10 % of the total) were anteiso-C(15 : 0), anteiso-C(17 : 0) and iso-C(16 : 0). Cell-wall amino acids were 2,4-diaminobutyric acid, glutamic acid, glycine and alanine. Diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, two unknown glycolipids and one unidentified phospholipid were detected as polar lipids. The DNA G+C content of strain MJ21(T) was 73.4 mol%. However, levels of DNA-DNA relatedness between strain MJ21(T) and the seven phylogenetically closest Agromyces strains ranged from 14 to 56 %, showing clearly that the new isolate represents a novel genomic species. Strain MJ21(T) could be differentiated clearly from its phylogenetic neighbours on the basis of phenotypic, genotypic and chemotaxonomic features. Therefore, strain MJ21(T) is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Agromyces, for which the name Agromyces soli sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is MJ21(T) ( = KCTC 19549(T)  = JCM 16247(T)).