Sphingobacterium terrae sp nov., isolated from oil-contaminated soil

A cream-coloured, Gram-stain-negative, non-motile and rod-shaped bacterium, designated strain Brt-F-T, was isolated from oil-contaminated soil. Strain Brt-F-T was able to grow from 15 to 45 degrees C, pH 6.5-10.5 and 0-4.5% (w/v) NaCl concentration. This strain was taxonomically characterized by a polyphasic approach. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, strain Brt-F-T represented a member of the genus Sphingobacterium and shared highest sequence similarity with Sphingobacterium chuzhouense DH-5(T) (99.4 %); Sphingobacterium gobiense H7(T) (95.7 %) and Sphingobacterium arenae H-12(T) (94.3 %). The only respiratory quinone was menaquinone-7, the major polar lipid was phosphatidylethanolamine and the predominant fatty acids were summed feature 3 (C-16 : 1 omega 7c and/or C-16 : 1 omega 6c), iso-C-15 : 0, and iso-C-17 : 0 3-OH. The DNA G+C content was 43.4 mol%. The DNA-DNA relatedness value between strain Brt-F-T and S. chuzhouense KCTC 42746(T) was 35.7 %, which falls below the threshold value of 70% for the strain to be considered as novel. The morphological, physiological, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic analyses clearly distinguished this strain from its closest phylogenetic neighbours. Thus, strain Brt-F-T represents a novel species of the genus Sphingobacterium, for which the name Sphingobacterium terrae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is Brt-F-T (=KEMB 9005-691(T)=KACC 19392(T)=JCM 32159(T)).