Methylobacterium nigriterrae sp. nov., isolated from black soil

An aerobic, Gram-stain-negative, motile rod bacterium, designated as SYSU BS000021^T, was isolated from a black soil sample in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, China. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that the isolate belongs to the genus Methylobacterium, and showed the highest sequence similarity to Methylobacterium segetis KCTC 62267 ^T (98.51%) and Methylobacterium oxalidis DSM 24028 ^T (97.79%). Growth occurred at 20–37℃ (optimum, 28 °C), pH 6.0–8.0 (optimum, pH 7.0) and in the presence of 0% (w/v) NaCl. Polar lipids comprised of phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol, one unidentified aminolipid and one unidentified polar lipid. The major cellular fatty acids (> 5%) were C_18:0 and C_18:1 ω7c and/or C_18:1 ω6c. The predominant respiratory quinone was Q-10. The genomic G + C content was 68.36% based on the whole genome analysis. The average nucleotide identity (≤ 83.5%) and digital DNA–DNA hybridization (≤ 27.3%) values between strain SYSU BS000021^T and other members of the genus Methylobacterium were all lower than the threshold values recommended for distinguishing novel prokaryotic species. Based on the results of phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic analyses, strain SYSU BS000021^T represents a novel species of the genus Methylobacterium, for which the name Methylobacterium nigriterrae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of the proposed novel species is SYSU BS000021^T (= GDMCC 1.3814 ^T = KCTC 8051 ^T).