Sphingomonas frigidaeris sp. nov., isolated from an air conditioning system

A strictly aerobic Gram-stain-negative bacterium, designated strain KER25-10^T, was isolated from a laboratory air conditioning system in South Korea. Cells were yellow-pigmented, non-motile rods showing catalase- and oxidase-positive reactions. The strain grew at pH 4.0-9.0 (optimum, pH 6.0-7.0) and 10-40 °C (optimum, 30 °C) and in the presence of 0-3 % (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 0 %). The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 65.1 mol%. Strain KER25-10^T contained ubiquinone-10 (Q-10) as the predominant isoprenoid quinone and C16 : 0, C17 : 1ω6c, summed feature 3 (comprising C16 : 1ω7c and/or C16 : 1ω6c) and summed feature 8 (comprising C18 : 1ω7c and/or C18 : 1ω6c) as the major fatty acids. The major polar lipids were sphingoglycolipid, diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylcholine. Only spermidine was detected as the polyamine. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA sequences indicated that strain KER25-10^T formed a distinct phylogenetic lineage within the genus Sphingomonas of the family Sphingomonadaceae and the strain was most closely related to Sphingomonas kyeonggiense THG-DT81^T with a 96.8 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity. On the basis of phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and molecular features, strain KER25-10^T clearly represents a novel species of the genus Sphingomonas, for which the name Sphingomonas frigidaeris sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is KER25-10^T (=KACC 19285^T=JCM 32053^T).