Sphingomonas solaris sp. nov., isolated from a solar panel in Boston, Massachusetts

Solar panel surfaces, although subjected to a range of extreme environmental conditions, are inhabited by a diverse microbial community adapted to solar radiation, desiccation and temperature fluctuations. This is the first time a new bacterial species has been isolated from this environment. Strain R4DWN(T) belongs to the genus Sphingomonas and was isolated from a solar panel surface in Boston, MA, USA. Strain R4DWN(T) is a Gram-negative, non-motile and rod-shaped bacteria that tested positive for oxidase and catalase and forms round-shaped, shiny and orange-coloured colonies. It is mesophilic, neutrophilic and non-halophilic, and presents a more stenotrophic metabolism than its closest neighbours. The major fatty acids in this strain are C-18:1 omega 7c/C-18:1 omega 6c, C-16:1 omega 7c/C-16:1 omega 6c, C-14:0 20H and C-16:0 Comparison of 165 rRNA gene sequences revealed that the closest type strains to R4DWN T are Sphingomonas fennica, Sphingomonas formosensis, Sphingomonas prati, Sphingomonas montana and Sphingomonas oleivorans with 96.3, 96.1. 96.0, 95.9 and 95.7 % pairwise similarity, respectively. The genomic G+C content of R4DWN(T) is 67.9 mol%. Based on these characteristics, strain R4DWN T represents a novel species of the genus Sphingomonas for which the name Sphingomonas solaris sp. nov. is proposed with the type strain R4DWN(T) (=CECT 9811(T)=LMG 31344(T)).