Sphingopyxis italica sp nov., isolated from Roman catacombs

A Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, motile, rod-shaped bacterium, strain SC13E-S71(T)., was isolated from tuff, volcanic rock, where the Roman catacombs of Saint Callixtus in Rome, Italy, was excavated. Analysis of 165 rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain 5013E-S71(T) belongs to the genus Sphingopyxis, and that it shows the greatest sequence similarity with Sphingopyxis chilensis DSM 14889(T) (98.72%), Sphingopyxis taejonensis DSM 15583(T) (98.65 %), Sphingopyxis ginsengisoli LMG 23390(T) (98.16%), Sphingopyxis panaciterrae KCTC 12580(T) (98.09 %), Sphingopyxis alaskensis DSM 13593(T) (98.09%), Sphingopyxis witflariensis DSM 14551(T) (98.09%), Sphingopyxis bauzanensis DSM 22271(T) (98.02%), Sphingopyxis granuli KCTC 12209(T) (97.73 %), Sphingopyxis macrogoltabida KACC 10927(T) (97.49 %), Sphingopyxis ummariensis DSM 24316(T) (97.37 %) and Sphingopyxis panaciterrulae KCTC 22112(T) (97.09 %). The predominant fatty acids were C-18:1 omega 7c, summed feature 3 (iso-C-15:0 2-OH and/or C-16:1 omega 7c), C-14:0 2-OH and C-16:0. The predominant menaquinone was MK-10. The major polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine and sphingoglycolipid.These chemotaxonomic data are common to members of the genus Sphingopyxis. However, a polyphasic approach using physiological tests, DNA base ratios, DNA DNA hybridization and 16S rRNA gene sequence comparisons showed that the isolate SC13E-S71(T) belongs to a novel species within the genus Sphingopyxis, for which the name Sphingopyxis italica sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is SC13E-S71(T) (=DSM 25229(T)=CECT 8016(T)).