Microvirga soli sp nov., an alphaproteobacterium isolated from soil

An aerobic, Gram-stain-negative, catalase-positive and oxidase-negative, non-motile, non-spore-forming, rod-shaped, pinkpigmented bacterium designated strain R491(T) was isolated from soil. Flexirubin-type pigments were absent. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain R491(T) formed a lineage within the family Methylobacteriaceae of the phylum Proteobacteria that was distinct from various species of the genus Microvirga, including Microvirgaaerilata 5420S-16(T) (97.83% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity), Microvirga zambiensis WSM3693(T) (97.76 %), Microvirga flocculans ATCC BAA-817(T) (97.41 %), and Microvirga lupini Lut6(T), Microvirga subterranea DSM 14364(T), Microvirga vignae BR3299(T), and Microvirga guangxiensis 25B(T) (96.99 %). The major polar lipids of strain R491(T) were phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylethanolamine. The major cellular fatty acids were summed feature 8 (C-18:1 omega 7c and/or C-18:1 omega 6c; 71.2 %), C-16:0 (12.0 %), summed feature 3 (C-16:1 omega 7c and/or C-16:1 omega 6c; 4.7 %), and C-18:0 (4.2 %). The DNA G+C content of strain R491(T) was 61.8 mol%. DNA-DNA hybridization values between strain R491(T) and other members of the genus Microvirga ranged from 27 to 57 %. On the basis of phenotypic, genotypic and phylogenetic analyses, strain R491(T) represents a novel species of the genus Microvirga, for which the name Microvirga soli sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is R491(T) (= KEMB 9005-408(T) = KACC 18969(T) = NBRC 112417(T)).