Enterobacter sacchari sp. nov., a nitrogen-fixing bacterium associated with sugar cane (Saccharum officinarum L.)

Five nitrogen-fixing bacterial strains (SP1(T), NN143, NN144, NN208 and HX148) were isolated from stem, root or rhizosphere soil of sugar cane (Saccharum officinarum L.) plants. Cells were Gram-negative, motile, rods with peritrichous flagella. DNA G+C content was 55.0 ± 0.5 mol%. Sequence determinations and phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA gene and rpoB indicated that the strains were affiliated with the genus Enterobacter and most closely related to E. radicincitans DSM 16656(T) and E. oryzae LMG 24251(T). Fluorimetric determination of thermal denaturation temperatures after DNA-DNA hybridization, enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus PCR and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry differentiated the whole-genome, genotype and protein profiles from those of E. radicincitans and E. oryzae. The strains' cell fatty acid composition differentiated them from E. radicincitans and E. oryzae by containing a higher level of summed feature 2 (C16 : 1ω7c and/or C16 : 1ω6c) and a lower level of C17 : 0 cyclo. Their physiological and biochemical profiles differentiated them from E. radicincitans by being positive for methyl red test, ornithine decarboxylase and utilization of putrescine, D-arabitol, L-fucose and methyl α-D-glucoside and being negative for arginine dihydrolase, and differentiated them from E. oryzae by being positive for aesculin hydrolysis and utilization of putrescine, D-arabitol and L-rhamnose and being negative for arginine dihydrolase, lysine decarboxylase and utilization of mucate. The five strains therefore represent a novel species, for which the name Enterobacter sacchari sp. nov. is proposed, with the type strain SP1(T) ( = CGMCC 1.12102(T) = LMG 26783(T)).