Hartmannibacter diazotrophicus gen. nov., sp nov., a phosphate-solubilizing and nitrogen-fixing alphaproteobacterium isolated from the rhizosphere of a natural salt-meadow plant

A phosphate-mobilizing, Gram-negative bacterium was isolated from rhizospheric soil of Plantago winteri from a natural salt meadow as part of an investigation of rhizospheric bacteria from salt-resistant plant species and evaluation of their plant-growth-promoting abilities. Cells were rods, motile, strictly aerobic, oxidase-positive and catalase-negative. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain E19(T) was distinct from other taxa within the class Alphaproteobacteria. Strain E19(T) showed less than 93.5% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with members of the genera Rhizobium (<= 93.5%), Labrenzia (<= 93.1%), Stappia (<= 93.1 %), Aureimonas (<= 93.1%) and Mesorhizobium (<= 93.0%) and was most closely related to Rhizobium rhizoryzae (93.5% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity to the type strain). The sole respiratory quinone was Q-10, and the polar lipids comprised phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, an aminolipid and an unidentified phospholipid. Major fatty acids were C-18:1 omega 7c (71.4%), summed feature 2 (C-14:0 3-OH and/or iso-C-16:1; 8.3 %), C-20:0 (7.9 %) and C-16:0 (6.1%). The DNA G+C content of strain E19(T) was 59.9 +/- 0.7 mol%. The capacity for nitrogen fixation was confirmed by the presence of the nifH gene and the acetylene reduction assay. On the basis of the results of our polyphasic taxonomic study, the new isolate represents a novel genus and species, for which the name Hartmannibacter diazotrophicus gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of Hartmannibacter diazotrophicus is E19(T) (=LMG 27460(T)=KACC 17263(T)).