Devosia aurantiaca sp. nov., Isolated from Mountain Soil and Proposal of Albitalea gen. nov. to Replace the Illegitimate Prokaryotic Genus Name Geomonas Khan et al. 2020

Strain H239(T), a gram-negative, strictly aerobic, and oxidase-positive, and catalase-negative bacterium, was isolated from mountain soil in Gangwon-do of South Korea. Colonies were orange colored, and cells were motile rods with a single polar flagellum. Growth was observed between 25 and 30 degrees C (optimum, 30 degrees C), between pH 7.0 and pH 9.0 (optimum, pH 7.5), and in the presence of 0-1.5% (w/v) NaCl (optimum 0.5-1%). Ubiquinone-10 was detected as the sole respiratory quinone. The major fatty acids (>10%) of strain H239(T) were C-18:1 omega 7c, C-18:0, and C-16:0. The polar lipids detected from strain H239(T) consisted of two unidentified glycolipids, two unidentified phospholipids, and three unidentified polar lipids. The G+C content of strain H239(T) based on its genome sequence was 62.0 mol%. Comparative 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis indicated that strain H239(T) was most closely related to Devosia chinhatensis IPL18(T) (97.7%), Devosia submarina KMM 9415(T) (97.7%), and Devosia yakushimensis Yak96B(T) (97.3%). Phylogenetic analyses based on the 16S rRNA gene and whole-genome sequences revealed that strain H239(T) formed a distinct phyletic lineage as a new species within the genus Devosia. Based on its physiological, chemotaxonomic, and molecular properties, strain H239(T) represents a novel species of the genus Devosia, for which the name Devosia aurantiaca sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is H239(T) (=KACC 21662(T)=JCM 33930(T)). In addition, because the prokaryotic genus name Geomonas Khan et al. 2020 is a later homonym of Geomonas Xu et al. 2020, the name is illegitimate (Principle 6 in the International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes). Therefore, we propose to replace the problematic prokaryotic names Geomonas and Geomonas soli with Albitalea with Albitalea terrae, respectively.

Automated summary

A new gram-negative bacterium, designated as Devosia aurantiaca sp. nov., was isolated from mountain soil in Gangwon-do, South Korea. It exhibits distinct physiological, chemotaxonomic, and molecular properties within the genus Devosia, highlighting its status as a novel species.