Sphingobium aromaticivastans sp. nov., a novel aniline- and benzene-degrading, and antimicrobial compound producing bacterium.

A strictly aerobic, orange-pigmented strain was isolated and designated as UCM-25. This strain is capable of degrading aniline and benzene, while is also producing antimicrobial compounds which inhibit the growth of some common pathogenic microbes. A near full-length 16S rRNA gene sequence revealed similarity to Sphingobium chlorophenolicum NBRC 16172 (98.6%). The level of DNA-DNA hybridization between the new isolate and the related species suggests UCM-25 to be a new species belonging to the genus Sphingobium. The bacterial cells contained phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, sphingoglycolipid, phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylmonomethylethanolamine, phosphatidyldimethylethanolamine, three unidentified polar lipids, and an unidentified aminophospholipid. Ubiquinone Q-10 was the major quinone and spermidine was the major polyamine. The G+C content in the DNA of strain UCM-25 was 62.9 mol%. Cells contained summed feature 8 (Cω7c and/or Cω6c), summed feature 3 (Cω7c and/or Cω6c), C, and C 2-OH as major fatty acids. Based on the comparison of phenotypic, genotypic, and chemotaxonomic characteristics, strain UCM-25 represents a new member of the genus Sphingobium, for which the name S. aromaticivastans sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is UCM-25 (=KACC 19288 =DSM 105181).