Skermanella rosea sp nov., isolated from hydrocarbon-contaminated desert sands

A novel Gram-stain-negative, small rod-shaped, motile strain, designated M1(T), was isolated from hydrocarbon-contaminated desert sands collected from Kuwait. M1(T) grew at 12-45 degrees C, pH 6.1-8.8 and 0-4.5% (w/v) NaCl concentration. Casein, Tween-20 and Tween-80 were hydrolyzed while starch, urea, chitin, DNA and carboxymethyl-cellulose were not hydrolyzed by M1(T). C-18:1 omega 6c/C-18:1 omega 7c, C-16:0 and C-12:0 aldehyde were predominant fatty acids with minor amounts of iso-C16:1I/C-14:0 3-OH, C-16 : 0 3-OH, C-18 : 0, C-16 : 1 omega 6c/C-16 : 1 omega 7c, C-16 : 1 omega 11c and C-18 : 1 omega 9c. Diphosphatidylglycerol (DPG), phosphatidylglycerol (PG), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) and phosphatidylcholine (PC) were the major polar lipids. Minor amounts of unidentified aminolipids (AL1-2), unidentified phospholipids (PL1-2) and unidentified lipids (L1-4) were also detected. Genomic G+C content was 69.5 mol%. Comparisons of 16S rRNA gene sequence indicate that M1(T) represent a member of the genus Skermanella in the family Rhodospirillaceae of the class Alphaproteobacteria. M1(T) has a sequence similarity of 97.5 % with Skermanella aerolata 5416T-32(T), 96.7% with Skermanella stibiiresistens SB22(T) and < 95.7% with the other two species of the genus Skermanella. DNA-DNA hybridization values between M1(T) and the type strains of the most closely related species were clearly below the 70% threshold. Distinct morphological, physiological and genotypic differences from the previously described taxa support the classification of strain M1(T) as a representative of a novel species in the genus Skermanella, for which the name Skermanella rosea sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is M1(T) (= KEMB 2255-458(T) = JCM 31276(T)).