Rhizobium rhizoryzae sp nov., isolated from rice roots

Two strains (J3-AN59(T) and J3-N84) of Gram-stain-negative, aerobic and rod-shaped bacteria were isolated from the roots of fresh rice plants. The 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity results showed that the similarity between strains J3-AN59(T). and J3-N84 was 100%. Both strains were phylogenetically related to members of the genus Rhizobium, and they were most closely related to Rhizobium tarimense ACCC 06128(T) (97.43 %). Similarities in the sequences of housekeeping genes between strains J3-AN59(T) and J3-N84 and those of recognized species of the genus Rhizobium were less than 90%. The polar lipid profiles of both strains were predominantly composed of phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylcholine and an unknown aminophospholipid. The major cellular fatty acids were summed feature 8 (C-18:1 omega 7c and/or C-18:1 omega 6c) and C-16:0. The DNA G+C contents of J3-AN59(T) and J3-N84 were 55.7 and 57.1 mol%, respectively. The DNA-DNA relatedness value between J3-AN59(T) and J3-N84 was 89%, and strain J3-AN59(T) showed 9% DNA-DNA relatedness to R. tarimense ACCC 06128(T), the most closely related strain. Based on this evidence, we found that J3-AN59(T) and J3-N84 represent a novel species in the genus Rhizobium and we propose the name Rhizobium rhizoryzae sp. nov. The type strain is J3-AN59(T) (=ACCC 05916(T)=KCTC 23652(T)).