Sphingomonas metalli sp nov., isolated from an abandoned lead-zinc mine

A Gram-stain-negative and non-motile bacterial strain designated 9O-5(T) was isolated from an abandoned lead-zinc mine in Meizhou, Guangdong Province, southern China. The isolate was orange-pigmented, aerobic, and oxidase-and catalase-positive. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain 9O-5(T) belongs to the genus Sphingomonas and was closely related to Sphingomonas abaci DSM 15867(T) (97.6 % similarity), Sphingomonas phyllosphaerae FA2(T) (96.9 %) and Shingomonas guangdongensis 9NM-8(T) (96.8 %). Mean DNA-DNA relatedness between strain 9O-5(T) and S. abaci DSM 15867(T) was only 47.1 +/- 4.9 %. The major fatty acids were C-18 : 1 omega 7c, C-14 : 0 2-OH and summed feature 3 (C-16 : 1 omega 7c and/or C-16 : 1 omega 6c). It contained Q-10 as the predominant respiratory quinone and sym-homospermidine as the major polyamine. The polar lipids were sphingoglycolipid, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol, five unidentified phospholipids and six unidentified lipids. The genomic DNA G+C content of strain 9O-5(T) was 69.1 +/- 0.1 mol%. Based on the data from this polyphasic taxonomic study, strain 9O-5(T) should be considered as representing a novel species of the genus Sphingomonas, for which the name Sphingomonas metalli sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is 9O-5(T) (=CGMCC 1.15330(T) =KCTC 42759(T)).