One Gram-stain negative, aerobic, non-motile bacterial strain, 2c-3T, was isolated from symptomatic canker bark tissue of Populus × euramericana. It was studied by the genome sequence-derived average nucleotide identity (ANI), phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences and phenotypic characteristics. 16S rRNA gene data revealed that the novel isolate shares the greatest sequence similarity to Sphingobacterium populi 7Y-4T (97.0 %). The ANI values between the novel isolate and S. populi 7Y-4T was 81.19 %, lower than the proposed species boundary ANI cut-off (95-96 %). The major fatty acids are iso-C15 : 0, C16 : 1ω7c and iso-C17 : 0 3-OH. The polar lipids of the novel isolate included phosphatidylethanolamine, phospholipid, aminophospholipid and unknown lipids (L1-10). The menaquinone of the novel isolate was MK-7. The DNA G+C content was 41.96 mol %. Based on phenotypic and genotypic characteristics, the isolate represents a novel species within the genus Sphingobacterium, for which the name Sphingobacterium corticibacter is proposed. The type strain is 2c-3T (=CFCC 11898T=KCTC 52798T).
Keywords: Populus × euramericana; Sphingobacterium; average nucleotide identity.