Abstract

An orange-colored bacterial strain, ICM 1-15T, was isolated from greenhouse soil. The 16S rRNA gene sequence of this strain showed the highest sequence similarity with Niabella ginsengisoli GR10-1T (95.2%) and Niabella yanshanensis CCBAU 05354T (95.0%) among the type strains. The strain ICM 1-15T was a strictly aerobic, Gram-negative, non-sporeforming, non-motile, flexirubin pigment-producing, short rod-shaped bacterium. The strain grew at 15–35°C (optimum, 25°C), at a pH of 5.0–8.5 (optimum, pH 6.5), and in the presence of 0–3% NaCl (optimum, 1%). The DNA G+C content of strain ICM 1-15T was 43.6 mol%. It contained MK-7 as the major isoprenoid quinone and iso-C15:0 (38.9%), iso-C15:1 G (20.3%), and iso-C17:0 3-OH (12.9%) as the major fatty acids. On the basis of evidence from our polyphasic taxonomic study, we concluded that strain ICM 1-15T should be classified within a novel species of the genus Niabella, for which the name Niabella terrae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is ICM 1-15T (=KACC 17443T =JCM 19502T).

• Keywords: Niabella terrae; novel species; polyphasic taxonomy