A report of 42 unrecorded bacterial species belonging to the Alphaproteobacteria in Korea

The class Alphaproteobacteria that form one of the largest proteobacterial groups within bacteria include diverse phototrophs, chemolithotrophs, chemoorganotrophs, and aerobic photoheterotrophs and are abundant in various terrestrial and marine habitats (Giovannoni et al., 2005; Kersters et al., 2006). The taxonomic classification based on 16S rRNA gene sequences shows that the class Alphaproteobacteria are recognized as a class within the phylum Proteobacteria and they are subdivided into 8 main subgroups or orders (Caulobacterales, Magnetococcales, Parvularculales, Rickettsiales, Rhizobiales, Rhodobacterales, Rhodospirillales, and Sphingomonadales; Ferla et al., 2013). Members of Alphaproteobacteria provide enormously valuable biological resources in various industries as well as valuable tools for taxonomic, biochemical and molecular biological studies. Some members of Alphaproteobacteria exhibit interactions with eukaryotic host organisms, which is of central importance from agricultural and medical perspectives (Skorpil and Broughton, 2005; Journal of Species Research 5(2):206-219, 2016