Sphingobacterium pedocola sp. nov. a novel halotolerant bacterium isolated from agricultural soil

A Gram-reaction-negative halotolerant bacterial strain, designated Ka21T, was isolated from agricultural soil and characterised using a polyphasic approach to determine its taxonomic position. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, highest similarity was found with Sphingobacterium alkalisoli Y3L14T (96.72%). Cells were observed to be aerobic, non-motile rods. The isolate was found to be able to grow between 0 and 10% of NaCl concentration. The assembled genome of strain Ka21T has a total length of 5.2 Mb with a G + C content of 41.0 mol%. According to the genome analysis, Ka21T encodes several glycoside hydrolases that may play a role in the degradation of accumulated plant biomass in the soil. Based on phenotypic characteristics and phylogenetic analysis, it is concluded that strain Ka21T represents a novel species in the Sphingobacterium genus for which the name Sphingobacterium pedocola sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of the species is strain Ka21T (= LMG 31575T = NCAIM B.02636T).