Novosphingobium guangzhouense sp nov., with the ability to degrade 1-methylphenanthrene

A novel Gram-stain-negative, flagellated, rod-shaped, yellow-pigmented aerobic bacterium, strain SA925(T), that is capable of degrading 1-methylphenanthrene was isolated from oil-polluted soil collected from a refinery located in Guangzhou, China. Phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence demonstrated that strain SA925(T) belongs to the genus Novosphingobium and is evolutionarily close to the type strains of Novosphingobium gossypii (98.5% similarity), Novosphingobium panipatense (98.2 %), Novosphingobium mathurense (98.0 %) and Novosphingobium pentaromativorans (96.5 %). The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 60.2 mol%. DNA-DNA hybridization experiments between strain SA925(T) and the closest strain, Novosphingobium gossypii JM-1396(T), revealed a low level of relatedness (35.5 %). Strain SA925T grew at 10-35 degrees C, at pH 6.0-8.0 and in the presence of 0-4% (w/v) NaCl. The major fatty acids were C-18 : 1 omega 7c, C-16 : 0 and summed feature 3 (C-16 : 1 omega 7c and/or C-16 : 1 omega 6c). The polar lipid profiles mainly consisted of diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidyldimethylethanolamine, phosphatidylethanolamine and sphingoglycolipid (the characteristic polar lipid). The predominant ubiquinone was Q-10. The major polyamine was spermidine. Based on the phylogenetic, phenotypic and physiological characteristics, strain SA925(T) was considered to represent a novel species of the genus Novosphingobium, for which the name Novosphingobium guangzhouense sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is SA925(T) (= DSM 32207(T) = GDMCC 1.1110(T)).