Erwinia phyllosphaerae sp. nov., a novel bacterium isolated from phyllosphere of pomelo (Citrus maxima)

Abstract

A novel phosphate-solubilizing and 3-indoleacetic acid producing bacterium, designated strain CMYE1T, was isolated from the phyllosphere of pomelo (Citrus maxima) in Meizhou, Guangdong Province, PR China. Cells were Gram-stain-negative, facultative aerobic, non-spore-forming, rod-shaped and motile with peritrichous flagella. It had the highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity to Kalamiella piersonii NRRL B-65522T (99.0 %), followed by Pantoea cypripedii LMG 2657T (98.1 %), Erwinia iniecta B120T (97.7 %), Mixta intestinalis 29Y89BT (97.6 %) and other species (<97.6 %). However, phylogenomic analyses clearly showed that strain CMYE1T should be assigned into the genus Erwinia , and was most closely related to Erwinia oleae LMG 25322T (96.7 %). Genome comparisons showed that the novel strain shared ≤83.2 % average nucleotide identity and ≤26.5 % digital DNA–DNA hybridization values with closely related strains, respectively. It contained C16 : 0, C17 : 0 cyclo, summed feature 3 (C16 : 1  ω7c and/or C16 : 1  ω6c) and summed feature 8 (C18 : 1  ω7c and/or C18 : 1  ω6c) as the major fatty acids. Based on the results of phylogenetic, phenotypic and chemotaxonomic analyses, as well as genome comparisons, strain CMYE1T belongs to a novel species of the genus Erwinia , for which the name Erwinia phyllosphaerae sp. nov. is proposed with the type strain CMYE1T (=GDMCC 1.2674T=JCM 34792T).