Brevibacterium limosum sp. nov., Brevibacterium pigmenatum sp. nov., and Brevibacterium atlanticum sp. nov., three novel dye decolorizing actinobacteria isolated from ocean sediments

During a study of the marine actinobacterial biodiversity, a large number of Brevibacterium strains were isolated. Of these, five that have relatively low 16S rRNA gene similarity (98.5-99.3%) with validly published Brevibacterium species, were chosen to determine taxonomic positions. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis and BOX-PCR fingerprinting, strains o2(T), YB235(T), and WO024(T) were selected as representative strains. Genomic analyses, including average nucleotide identity (ANI) and digital DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH), clearly differentiated the three strains from each other and from their closest relatives, with values ranging from 82.8% to 91.5% for ANI and from 26.7% to 46.5% for dDDH that below the threshold for species delineation. Strains YB235(T), WO024(T), and o2(T) all exhibited strong and efficient decolorization activity in congo red (CR) dyes, moderate decolorization activity in toluidine blue (TB) dyes and poor decolorization in reactive blue (RB) dyes. Genes coding for peroxidases and laccases were identified and accounted for these strains' ability to effectively oxidize a variety of dyes with different chemical structures. Mining of the whole genome for secondary metabolite biosynthesis gene clusters revealed the presence of gene clusters encoding for bacteriocin, ectoine, NRPS, siderophore, T3PKS, terpene, and thiopeptide. Based on the phylogenetic, genotypic and phenotypic data, strains o2(T), YB235(T) and WO024(T) clearly represent three novel taxa within the genus Brevibacterium, for which the names Brevibacterium limosum sp. nov. (type strain o2(T) = JCM 33844(T) = MCCC 1A09961(T)), Brevibacterium pigmenatum sp. nov. (type strain YB235(T) = JCM 33843(T) = MCCC 1A09842(T)) and Brevibacterium atlanticum sp. nov. (type strain WO024(T) = JCM 33846(T) = MCCC 1A16743(T)) are proposed.

Automated summary

Three novel Brevibacterium species were identified through genomic analyses, showing strong decolorization activity for various dyes. These strains were differentiated from each other and from their closest relatives based on phylogenetic, genotypic and phenotypic data.