f Parapedobacter lycopersici sp. nov., isolated from the rhizosphere soil of tomato plants (Solanum lycopersicum L.)

A novel Gram-stain-negative bacterial strain, designated T16R-256T, was isolated from the rhizosphere soil of tomato plants grown in a greenhouse in Yecheon-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do, Republic of Korea and characterized using polyphasic taxonomy. Cells were aerobic, non-flagellated and rod-shaped. Colonies were light yellow, convex and round. The strain grew in the temperature range of 15–37 °C (optimally at 28–30 °C) and pH range of 7.0–9.0 (optimally at 7.0–8.0) and in 4 % NaCl (w/v). A comparison of 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain T16R-256T is a member of the genus Parapedobacter , exhibiting high sequence similarity with Parapedobacter pyrenivorans P-4T (94.2 %), Parapedobacter indicus RK1T (93.7 %), Parapedobacter koreensis Jip14T (93.7 %), Parapedobacter luteus 4M29T (93.6 %) and Parapedobacter soli DCY14T (93.4 %). The major polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine, sphingolipid, one aminophospholipid, two aminolipids and three unknown lipids. The major fatty acids (>10 % of the total fatty acids) were iso-C_15 : 0, iso-C_17 : 0 3-OH and iso-C_15 : 0 2-OH/C_16 : 1ω7c. Strain T16R-256T contained MK-7 as the predominant respiratory quinone and homospermidine as the major polyamine. The genomic DNA G+C content of the type strain was 55.5 mol%. On the basis of phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic data, strain T16R-256T should be designated as representative of a novel species of the genus Parapedobacter , for which the name Parapedobacter lycopersici sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is T16R-256T (=KACC 18788T=JCM 31602T).