Altererythrobacter deserti sp. nov., isolated from desert soil.

A Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, short rod-shaped, non-motile bacterium (THG-S3), was isolated from desert soil. Growth occurred at 15-35 °C (optimum 28 °C), at pH 5-10 (optimum 7) and at 0-4 % NaCl (optimum 1 %). Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, the nearest phylogenetic neighbours of strain THG-S3 were identified as Altererythrobacter rigui KCTC 42620 (99.0 %), Altererythrobacter dongtanensis KCTC 22672 (97.1 %), Altererythrobacter xinjiangensis CCTCC AB 207166 (96.9 %), Altererythrobacter troitsensis KCTC 12303 (96.9 %). Levels of relatedness among strain THG-S3 and other Altererythrobacter species were lower than 96.0 %. DNA-DNA hybridization values between strain THG-S3 and A. rigui KCTC 42620, A. dongtanensis KCTC 22672, A. xinjiangensis CCTCC AB 207166 and A. troitsensis KCTC 12303 were 59.7 % (42.8 %, reciprocal analysis), 45.1 % (36.3 %), 34.7 % (25.1 %) and 15.1 % (12.3 %), respectively. The DNA G+C content of strain THG-S3 was 69 mol%. The polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol and three unidentified lipids The quinone was ubiquinone-10. The major fatty acids were C16 : 0, C17 : 1 ω6c, C18 : 1 ω7c and summed feature 3 (C16 : 1 ω7c and/or C16 : 1 ω6c). On the basis of the phylogenetic analysis, chemotaxonomic data, physiological characteristics and DNA-DNA hybridization data, strain THG-S3 represents a novel species of the genus Altererythrobacter, for which the name Altererythrobacter deserti sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is THG-S3 (=KACC 19190=CGMCC 1.15959).