Leekyejoonella antrihumi gen. nov., sp. nov., a new member of the family Dermacoccaceae isolated from a cave soil

A novel Gram-stain-positive, actinobacterial strain, designated C5-26(T), was isolated from soil from a natural cave in Jeju, Republic of Korea, and its taxonomic position was investigated using a polyphasic approach. The organism was aerobic, and cells were non-spore-forming, non-motile cocci that occurred singly, in pairs, in triplets, in tetrads, in short chains or in irregular clusters. Colonies of the cells were circular, convex, entire and white. The peptidoglycan type was A4 alpha with an L-Ser-o-Asp interpeptide bridge. The whole-cell sugars comprised glucose, rhamnose, mannose, arabinose, galactose and ribose. The major menaquinone was MK-8(H-4). The polar lipids contained diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylinositol and an unidentified phospholipid. The major fatty acids were iso-C-16:0 and iso-C-16:1. The size of the draft genome was 5.32 Mbp with depth of coverage of 161x. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 67.1 mol%. Phylogenetic analyses based on 165 rRNA gene sequences showed that the novel isolate belonged to the family Dermacoccaceae and formed a distinct subcluster at the base of the radiation of the genus Luteipulveratus. Highest sequence similarities of the novel isolate were found to the type strains of Luteipulveratus halotolerans (96.2%), Branchiibius hedensis (95.4%), Luteipulveratus mongoliensis (95.4%) and Branchiibius cervicis (95.3%). The whole genome-based phylogeny supported the novelty of the isolate at the genus level in the family Dermacoccaceae. On the basis of data from this polyphasic study, strain C5-26(T) (=KCTC 39632(T)=DSM 108676(T)) represents a novel species of a new genus in the family Dermacoccaceae, for which the name Leekyejoonella antrihumi gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed.