Cellulomonas aurantiaca sp. nov., isolated from a soil sample from a tangerine field

A Gram-stain positive, facultatively aerobic, motile and rod-shaped bacterial strain, designated THG-SMD2.3^T, was isolated from a soil sample collected in a tangerine field, Republic of Korea. According to the 16S rRNA gene sequence comparisons, the isolate was identified as a member of the genus Cellulomonas and to be closely related to Cellulomonas fimi ATCC 484^T (98.5%), Cellulomonas biazotea DSM 20112^T (98.3%), Cellulomonas chitinilytica X.bu-b^T (98.0%), Cellulomonas xylanilytica XIL11^T (97.2%), Cellulomonas humilata ATCC 25174^T (97.1%) and Cellulomonas composti TR7-06^T (97.0%). The 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities with other current species of the genus Cellulomonas were in the range 95.4-96.6%. Catalase and oxidase tests were found to be positive. The DNA G+C content was determined to be 73.0 mol%. DNA-DNA hybridization values between strain THG-SMD2.3^T and C. fimi ATCC 484^T, C. biazotea DSM 20112^T, C. chitinilytica X.bu-b^T, C. xylanilytica XIL11^T, C. humilata ATCC 25174^T and C. composti TR7-06^T were 58.1 ± 1.6%, 56.7 ± 0.8%, 30.3 ± 1.6%, 22.8 ± 1.6%, 19.9 ± 1.6%, and 13.5 ± 3.0%, respectively. Strain THG-SMD2.3^T was also found to be able to grow at 20-42 °C, at 0-3% NaCl and at pH 5.5-10. The major fatty acids were identified as anteiso-C_15:0, iso-C_15:0, anteiso-C_17:0 and iso-C_14:0. The predominant menaquinone was identified as tetrahydrogenated menaquinones with nine isoprene units [MK-9(H₄)]. The polar lipids were found to be diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, two unidentified aminolipids and two unidentified phospholipids. Based on these phenotypic, genotypic and phylogenetic characterisations strain THG-SMD2.3^T (= KACC 19341^T = CGMCC 1.16303^T) is concluded to represent a novel species of the genus Cellulomonas, for which the name Cellulomonas aurantiaca sp. nov. is proposed.