Kocuria arsenatis sp nov., an arsenic-resistant endophytic actinobacterium associated with Prosopis laegivata grown on high-arsenic-polluted mine tailing

A Gram-stain-positive, aerobic, non-motile, coccoid, arsenic-resistant actinobacterial strain, designated CM1E1(T), was isolated from the lateral root tissue of Prosopis laegivata grown on a mine tailing in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain CM1E1(T) was clustered closely with species of the genus Kocuria, and showed the highest sequence similarity of 98.7 % to Kocuria rhizophila TA68(T). The DNA G+C content of strain CM1E1(T) was 74.5 mol% (T-m). The major fatty acids were anteiso-C-15 : 0, anteiso-C-17 : 0 and iso-C-15 : 0. The peptidoglycan of the cell wall contained lysine and alanine. The major respiratory quinones were MK-7(H-2) and MK-8(H-2). On the basis of the phenotypic characterization, phylogenetic relationships and chemotaxonomic analyses, strain CM1E1(T) represents a novel species of the genus Kocuria, for which the name Kocuria arsenatis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is CM1E1(T) (=CCBAU 101092(T)=HAMBI 3625(T)=LMG 28671(T)).