Sphingobacterium arenae sp nov., isolated from sandy soil

A novel, Gram-stain-negative, non-motile, non-spore-forming, short rod-shaped, aerobic bacterium designated H-12(T) was isolated from a mixed sandy soil sample collected from Xinjiang, China. Strain H-12(T) grew at 20-37 degrees C (optimum, 30 degrees C), pH 7.0-11.0 (optimum, pH 8.5) on TGY medium with 0-5% NaCl (w/v). 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis indicated that strain H-12(T) shared sequence similarities with Sphingobacterium composti DSM 18850(T) (90.0 %). Strain H-12(T) showed a low level of DNA-DNA relatedness to Sphingobacterium composti DSM 18850(T) (45.5%). The predominant isoprenoid quinone of strain H-12(T) was MK-7 and the major polar lipid was phosphatidylethanolamine. The predominant cellular fatty acids were C-16:1 omega 7c and/or C-16:1 omega 6c, iso-C-15:0, iso-C-17:0 3-OH, C-16:0, C-16:0 3-OH and iso-C-15:0 3-OH. DNA G+C content of strain H-12(T) was 44.15 mol%. On the basis of phenotypic, genetic and phylogenetic data, strain H-12(T) is proposed to be a representative of a novel species of the genus Sphingobacterium, for which the name Sphingobacterium arenae sp. nov. is suggested and the type strain is H-12(T) (=ACCC 05758(T)=KCTC 32294(T)).