Variovorax gossypii sp. nov., isolated from Gossypium hirsutum

A beige-pigmented bacterial strain (JM-310T), isolated from the healthy internal root tissue of 4-week-old cotton (Gossypium hirsutum, cultivar 'DES-119') in Tallassee (Macon county), Alabama, USA, was studied taxonomically. The isolate produced small rod-shaped cells, which showed a Gram-negative staining behaviour. A comparison of the 16S rRNA gene sequence of the isolate revealed 99.2, 98.8, 98.7, 98.7, 98.1 and 97.6 % similarity to the 16S rRNA gene sequences of the type strains of Variovorax paradoxus, Variovorax boronicumulans, Variovorax ginsengisoli, Variovorax soli, Variovorax defluvii and Variovorax dokdonensis, respectively. In phylogenetic trees based on 16S rRNA gene sequences, strain JM-301T was placed within the monophyletic cluster of Variovorax species. The fatty acid profile of strain JM-310T consisted mainly of the major fatty acids C16 : 0, C10 : 0 3-OH and summed feature 4 (iso-C15 : 0 2-OH/C16 : 1ω7c/t). The quinone system of strain JM-310T contained predominantly ubiquinone Q-8 and lesser amounts of Q-7 and Q-9. The major polyamine was putrescine and the diagnostic polyamine 2-hydroxyputrescine was detected as well. The polar lipid profile consisted of the major lipids phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, diphospatidylglycerol and several unidentified lipids. DNA-DNA hybridization experiments with V. paradoxus LMG 1797T, V. boronicumulans 1.22T, V. soli KACC 11579T and V. ginsengisoli 3165T gave levels of relatedness of < 70 %. These DNA-DNA hybridization results in addition to differential biochemical properties indicate clearly that strain JM-310T is a member of a novel species, for which the name Variovorax gossypii sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is JM-310T ( = LMG 28869T = CIP 110912T = CCM 8614T).