Sphingobium agri sp. nov., isolated from rhizospheric soil of eggplant

A Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, short rod-shaped and motile bacterial strain, designated MAH-33^T, was isolated from rhizospheric soil of eggplant. The colonies were observed to be yellow-coloured, smooth, spherical and 0.1-0.3 mm in diameter when grown on TSA agar medium for 2 days. Strain MAH-33^T was found to be able to grow at 10-40 °C, at pH 5.0-10.0 and at 0-3.0 % NaCl (w/v). The strain was found to be positive for both oxidase and catalase tests. The strain was positive for hydrolysis of tyrosine and aesculin. According to the 16S rRNA gene sequence comparisons, the isolate was identified as a member of the genus Sphingobium and to be closely related to Sphingobium quisquiliarum P25^T (98.4 % similarity), Sphingobium mellinum WI4^T (97.8 %), Sphingobium fuliginis TKP^T (97.3 %) and Sphingobium herbicidovorans NBRC 16415^T (96.9 %). The novel strain MAH-33^T has a draft genome size of 3 908 768 bp (28 contigs), annotated with 3689 protein-coding genes, 45 tRNA and three rRNA genes. The average nucleotide identity and digital DNA-DNA hybridization values between strain MAH-33^T and closely related type strains were in the range of 79.8-81.6 % and 23.2-24.5 %, respectively. The genomic DNA G+C content was determined to be 62.2 %. The predominant isoprenoid quinone was ubiquinone 10. The major fatty acids were identified as C_16 : 0 and summed feature 8 (C_18 : 1  ω7c and/or C_18 : 1  ω6c). The polar lipids identified in strain MAH-33^T were phosphatidylethanolamine, diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, sphingoglycolipid, phosphatidylcholine; one unknown phospholipid and one unknown lipid. On the basis of digital DNA-DNA hybridization, ANI value, genotypic analysis, chemotaxonomic and physiological data, strain MAH-33^T represents a novel species within the genus Sphingobium, for which the name Sphingobium agri sp. nov. is proposed, with MAH-33^T (=KACC 19973^T = CGMCC 1.16609^T) as the type strain.