Rhodanobacter panaciterrae sp. nov., a bacterium with ginsenoside-converting activity isolated from soil of a ginseng field.

A novel gammaproteobacterium, designated LnR5-47(T), was isolated from soil of a ginseng field in Liaoning province, China. The isolate was a Gram-negative, aerobic, non-motile, non-spore-forming rod. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain LnR5-47(T) belonged to the genus Rhodanobacter. The isolate was most closely related to Rhodanobacter ginsengisoli GR17-7(T), Rhodanobacter terrae GP18-1(T), Dyella ginsengisoli Gsoil 3046(T), Rhodanobacter soli DCY45(T), Dyella soli JS12-10(T) and Dyella japonica IAM 15069(T) (98.0, 97.9, 97.7, 97.3, 97.2 and 97.1% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, respectively). Chemotaxonomic data (Q-8 as the predominant ubiquinone, and iso-C(16:0), iso-C(17:1)ω9c and iso-C(15:0) as the major fatty acids) also supported the affiliation of strain LnR5-47(T) with the genus Rhodanobacter. However, DNA-DNA relatedness between strain LnR5-47(T) and its closest phylogenetic neighbours was <25.8%. Moreover, physiological and biochemical tests phenotypically differentiated the isolate from other members of the genus Rhodanobacter. Therefore, strain LnR5-47(T) represents a novel species, for which the name Rhodanobacter panaciterrae sp. nov. is proposed; the type strain is LnR5-47(T) (=KACC 12826(T)=KCTC 22232(T)=LMG 24460(T)).