Abstract

Two strains PB196T and PB62T of Gram-negative, non-motile, and non-spore-forming bacteria, were isolated from soil in South Korea and characterized to determine their taxonomic positions. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that the two strains belonged to the genus Sphingomonas. The highest degree of sequence similarity of strain PB196T was found with PB62T (98.9%), Sphingomonas humi PB323T (98.9%), Sphingomonas kaistensis PB56T (98.2%), and Sphingomonas astaxanthinifaciens TDMA-17T (98.0%). The highest degree of sequence similarity of strain PB62T was found with Sphingomonas humi PB323T (98.8%), Sphingomonas astaxanthinifaciens TDMA-17T (98.2%), and Sphingomonas kaistensis PB56T (98.1%). Chemotaxonomic data revealed that they possessed ubiquinone-10 (Q-10) as common in the genus Sphingomonas, that the predominant fatty acids were summed feature 7 (C18:1ω7c/ω9t/ω12t), summed feature 4 (C16:1ω7c/C15:0 iso 2OH), C16:0, and C17:1ω6c, and that they contained sphingoglycolipid, phosphatidylglycerol (PG), and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) in common but they showed difference for diphosphatidylglycerol (DPG). Based on these data, PB196T (=KCTC 12339T =JCM 16604T) and PB62T (=KCTC 12336T =JCM 16605T =KEMB 9004-005T) should be classified as type strains of two novel species, for which the names Sphingomonas rosea sp. nov. and Sphingomonas swuensis sp. nov. are proposed, respectively.

• Keywords: taxonomy; 16S rRNA gene; Sphingomonas rosea; Sphingomonas swuensis