A Gram-stain-negative, non-motile, non-spore-forming bacterium, designated MLS-26-JM13-11T, was isolated from potato stems, collected in Guyuan County, Hebei Province, China. Strain MLS-26-JM13-11T could grow at 10-39 °C (optimum, 30 °C), pH 6.0-9.0 (optimum, pH 7.2) and in the presence of 0-4.0 % (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 1.0 % w/v). Phylogenetic analysis, based on 16S rRNA gene sequences, revealed that strain MLS-26-JM13-11T formed a stable clade with Sphingobacterium bambusae IBFC2009T and Sphingobacterium griseoflavum SCU-B140T, with the 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities ranging from 95.9 % to 97.0 %. The major cellular fatty acids comprised iso-C15 : 0 (36.9 %), summed feature 3 (C16 : 1ω7c and/or C16 : 1ω6c, 34.0 %), C16 : 0 (3.0 %) and iso-C17 : 0 3-OH (13.4 %). Strain MLS-26-JM13-11T contained sphingoglycolipid, phosphatidyl ethanolamine, six unknown lipids, one unknown aminolipid, four unknown polarlipids and two unknown aminophospholipids. The isoprenoid quinone was MK-7. The DNA G+C content was 42.6 mol%. Furthermore, the average nucleotide identity and in silico estimated DNA-DNA reassociation values among MLS-26-JM13-11T and S. bambusae KCTC 22814T were in all cases below the respective threshold for species differentiation. On the basis of phenotypic, genotypic and phylogenetic evidence, strain MLS-26-JM13-11T (=ACCC 60057T=JCM 32274T) represents a novel species within the genus Sphingobacterium, for which the name Sphingobacterium solani sp. nov. is proposed.
Keywords: Sphingobacterium; new species; phylogenetic analysis.