Description of Acinetobacter populi sp nov isolated from symptomatic bark of Populus x euramericana canker

Five Gram-negative, non-motile, rod-shaped bacterial strains were isolated from cankers of Populus x euramericana collected from different locations in Puyang city, Henan Province, China. The five strains were characterized by nutritional and physiological testing and DNA sequence analysis. Haemolysis was not observed on agar media supplemented with sheep erythrocytes. The strains could be distinguished from members of most species of the genus Acinetobacter by their inability to assimilate t-arginine and benzoate. The five strains formed a single branch in phylogenetic trees based on 16S rRNA, gyrB and rpoB individual gene sequence analysis, indicating that they all belonged to a single taxon within the genus Acinetobacter. DNA DNA hybridization results indicated that the five isolates represented to a single species that was separate from Acinetobacter puyangensis. On the basis of the phenotypic, genotypic and phylogenetic characteristics, the five strains are considered to represent a novel species of the genus Acinetobacter, for which the name Acinetobacter populi sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of A. populi sp. nov. is PBJ7(T) (CFCC 11170(T)=KCTC 42272(T)).