Phycicoccus ginsenosidimutans sp. nov., isolated from soil of a ginseng field

Abstract

A Gram-positive, non-motile, non-spore-forming, aerobic, coccoid-shaped bacterium, designated BXN5-13(T), was isolated from the soil of a ginseng field from Baekdu Mountain in Jilin district, China. Strain BXN5-13(T) grew optimally at 30 degrees C and pH 6.5-7.5 with 0-2% (w/v) NaCl. Strain BXN5-13(T) had beta-glucosidase activity that was connected with ginsenoside-converting ability, so that it was able to convert ginsenoside Rb(1) to ginsenoside F2. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, the closest phylogenetic relatives of strain BXN5-13(T) were Phycicoccus aerophilus 5516T-20(T) (98.4% 165 rRNA gene sequence similarity), P. bigeumensis MSL-03(T) (98.3 %), P. dokdonensis DS-8(T) (97.9 %) and P. jejuensis KSW2-15(T) (96.9 %). Lower sequence similarity (<97.0%) was found with the type strains of other recognized species of the family Intrasporangiaceae. The predominant quinone was MK-8(H(4)). The major fatty acids (>10%) were iso-C(15:0), C(17:0), anteiso-C(15:0) and iso-G(16:0). The major polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylinositol. The cell-wall peptidoglycan contained meso-diaminopimelic acid. The chemotaxonomic data and the high genomic DNA G+C content of strain BXN5-13(T) (70.8 mol%) supported its affiliation with the genus Phycicoccus. DNA DNA relatedness between strain BXN5-13(T) and its closest phylogenetic neighbours was below 16%. Strain BXN5-13(T) represents a novel species within the genus Phycicoccus, for which the name Phycicoccus ginsenosidimutans sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is BXN5-13(T) (=KCTC 19419(T)=DSM 21006(T)=LMG 24462(T)).