Reclassification of strains MAFF 303099T and R7A into the new species Mesorhizobium japonicum sp. nov.

In this work we revise the taxonomic status of the Lotus nodulating strains MAFF 303099T and R7A isolated in Japan and New Zealand, respectively. Their 16S rRNA genes are identical and show 98.0%, 99.7%, 99.8% and 99.9% similarity values with respect to the species M. loti NZP 2213T, M. jarvisii ATCC 33669T, M. huakuii USDA 4779T (CCBAU 2609T) and M. erdmanii USDA 3471T, respectively. The analysis of recA and glnII genes shows that M. jarvisii ATCC 33669T and M. huakuii USDA 4779T (CCBAU 2609T) are the closest related strains to MAFF 303099T and R7A with similarity values suggesting that these two strains belong to a different species for which MAFF 303099T is selected as type strain. The DNA-DNA relatedness values between the strain MAFF 303099T and its closest relatives range from 55 to 61%. The strains MAFF 303099T and R7A present slight differences in C18:1w7c 11-methyl and C19:0 cyclo w8c fatty acids with respect to M. jarvisii ATCC 33669T and M. huakuii USDA 4779T and also in several phenotypic characteristics. Therefore we propose the reclassification of these two strains into a novel species named Mesorhizobium japonicum sp. nov. being the type strain MAFF 303099T (LMG 29417T, CECT 9101T).

Citation

Pilar Martínez-Hidalgo, Martha Helena Ramírez-Bahena, José David Flores-Félix, José M Igual, Juan Sanjuán, Milagros León-Barrios, Alvaro Peix, Encarna Velázquez. Reclassification of strains MAFF 303099T and R7A into the new species Mesorhizobium japonicum sp. nov. International journal of systematic and evolutionary microbiology. 2016 Aug 26

PMID: 27565417

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