Erythrobacter aureus sp. nov., a plant growth-promoting bacterium isolated from sediment in the Yellow Sea, China

The application of plant growth-promoting (PGP) bacterium in agriculture is expanding rapidly in recent years. With the development of microbial technology, new bacterial species effective in promoting plant growth have been identified. In this study, a PGP bacterium was isolated from marine sediments of the Yellow Sea in China. The confrontation culture test and pot experiments showed that strain YH-07(T) inhibited the growth of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici (a plant pathogenic fungus), benefiting plant growth and reducing disease incidence of tomato wilt. We used polyphasic approaches including phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic information to determine its taxonomic status. In addition to profiling general features of the YH-07(T) genome, we identified genes related to PGP traits and genes involved in environmental stress tolerance. Metabolic assays showed that strain YH-07(T) could produce siderophores, solubilize phosphate, resist to salinity, and grow well within a wide range of temperature and pH, which is a promising PGP bacterium for future agricultural applications. These results provide evidence that strain YH-07(T) is a novel species of the genus Erythrobacter, for which the name Erythrobacter aureus sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is YH-07(T) (= CGMCC 1.16784(T) = DSM 107319(T)).