Kushneria phosphatilytica sp. nov., a phosphate-solubilizing bacterium isolated from a solar saltern

A Gram-stain-negative, motile, rod-shaped, non-endospore-forming, aerobic and halophilic bacterium, designated strain YCWA18^T, was isolated from the sediment of Jimo-Daqiao saltern in China. This strain was able to grow at NaCl concentrations in the range 0.5-20 % (w/v) with optimum growth at 6 % (w/v) NaCl. Growth occurred at temperatures of 4-40 °C (optimum 28 °C) and pH 4.0-9.0 (optimum 7.0). Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain YCWA18^T belonged to the genus Kushneria and shared the highest sequence similarity of 98.7 % with Kushneria sinocarnis DSM 23229^T. Moreover, the phylogenetic analysis based on the 23S rRNA gene sequence also confirmed the phylogenetic position of this novel strain. The predominant fatty acids were C_16 : 0, C_17 : 0 cyclo and C_12 : 0 3-OH. The major isoprenoid quinone was Q-9 (94.2 %) and the polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol (DPG), phosphatidylglycerol (PG), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), an unidentified aminolipid (AL), an unidentified phospholipids (PL) and two unidentified lipids (L). The complete genome of strain YCWA18^T consisted of a single, circular chromosome of 3 624 619 bp, with an average G+C content of 59.1 mol%. A genome-based phylogenetic tree constructed using an up-to-date bacterial core gene set (UBCG) showed that strain YCWA18^T formed a clade with K. sinocarnis DSM 23229^T. However, the level of the ANI and dDDH values between strain YCWA18^T and K. sinocarnis DSM 23229^T were 82.3 and 24.6 %, respectively, which were low enough to distinguish strain YCWA18^T from K. sinocarnis DSM 23229^T. Overall, based on the phenotypic, chemotaxonomic, phylogenetic and genomic analyses, strain YCWA18^T represents a novel species of genus Kushneria. The name Kushneria phosphatilytica sp. nov. is proposed, with the type strain YCWA18^T (=CGMCC 1.9149^T=NCCB 100306^T).