Sphingobacterium lumbrici sp. nov., a novel bacterium isolated from wormcast of Eisenia foetida

A novel Gram-stain-negative, rod-shaped, non-motile, yellowish bacterium, designated strain 1.3611T, was isolated from the wormcast of Eisenia foetida. The strain grew optimally at 30-37 degrees C, at pH 7.0 and with 0-1.0 % (w/v) NaCl. Based on the results of 16S rRNA gene sequence and phylogenetic analyses, strain 1.3611(T) showed the highest degree of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity to Sphingobacterium olei HAL-9(T) (97.0 %), followed by Sphingobacterium alkalisoli Y3L14(T) (95.8 %). The respiratory quinone of strain 1.3611T was menaquinone-7 (MK-7) and its major cellular fatty acids were iso-C-15:0 (41.3 %), summed feature 3 (C-16:1 omega 7c and/or C-16:1 omega 6c, 22.1 %) and iso-C-17:0 3 -OH (16.2 %). The major polar lipids were sphingophospholipid, phosphatidy-lethanolamine, four unidentified glycolipids, two unidentified phospholipids and five unidentified polar lipids. The genomic DNA G+C content was 39.0 mol%. The digital DNA-DNA hybridization and average nucleotide identity values between the genomes of strain 1.3611(T) and S. olei HAL-9(T) were 37.9 and 88.9 %, respectively. According to the phenotypic and chemotaxonomic phyloge-netic results, strain 1.3611(T) should represent a novel species of the genus Sphingobacterium, for which the name Sphingobacte-rium lumbrici sp. nov. is proposed, with strain 1.3611T (=KCTC 62980(T)=CCTCC AB 2018349(T)) as the type strain.

Automated summary

Strain 1.3611T, a novel Gram-stain-negative rod-shaped bacterium isolated from wormcast, showed the highest similarity to Sphingobacterium olei HAL-9(T) based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. It is proposed as a new species named Sphingobacterium lumbrici sp. nov. within the genus Sphingobacterium.