Comamonas jiangduensis sp. nov., a biosurfactant-producing bacterium isolated from agricultural soil

A novel biosurfactant-producing strain, designated YW1(T), was isolated from agricultural soil. Its taxonomic position was investigated using a polyphasic approach. The cells were short rods, Gram-negative, non-sporulating and motile. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain YW1(T) was a member of the genus Comamonas, and showed highest sequence similarities to Comamonas aquatica LMG 2370(T) (98.5%), Comamonas kerstersii LMG 3475(T) (97.7%) and Comamonas terrigena LMG 1253(T) (97.7%). Furthermore, DNA-DNA hybridization experiments against these three strains gave results that were clearly lower than 70% DNA-DNA similarity, and consequently confirmed that this new strain does not belong to a previously described species of the genus Comamonas. The major respiratory quinone was ubiquinone-8. The major fatty acids (>5%) were C16:0 (30.1%), summed feature 3 (C16:1ω6c and/or C16:1ω7c; 25.4%), summed feature 8 (C18:1ω6c and/or C18:1ω7c; 15.3%), C17:0 cyclo (7.4%) and C14:0 (5.8%). The major polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, unknown phospholipids and unknown lipids. Based on the phylogenetic analysis, DNA-DNA hybridization, whole-cell fatty acid composition as well as biochemical characteristics, strain YW1(T) was clearly distinguishable from all species of the genus Comamonas with validly published names and should be classified as a representative of a novel species of the genus Comamonas, for which the name Comamonas jiangduensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is YW1(T) (=CCTCC AB 2012033(T)=KACC 16697(T)).