Neorhizobium lilium sp. nov., an endophytic bacterium isolated from Lilium pumilum bulbs in Hebei province

Abstract

A novel gram-negative, aerobic, non-spore-forming, rod-shaped and non-nitrogen fixing bacterium named strain 24NR^T was isolated from wild Lilium pumilum bulbs in Fuping, Baoding City, Hebei province, PR China. The 16S rRNA gene sequences of strains 24NR^T showed the highest similarity to Neorhizobium alkalisoli DSM 21826^T (98.5%) and N. galegae HAMBI 540^T (98.1%). Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA genes and multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA) based on the partial sequences of atpD-glnII-glnA-recA-ropD-thrC housekeeping genes both indicated that strain 24NR^T is a member of the genus Neorhizobium. The average nucleotide identity between the genome sequence of strain 24NR^T and that of the isolate N. alkalisoli DSM 21826^T was 83.1%, and the digital DNA-DNA hybridization was 20.1%. The G+C content of strain 24NR^T was 60.3 mol %. The major cellular fatty acids were summed feature 8 (C_18:1ω7c and/or C_18:1ω6c) and C_19:0 cyclo ω8c. Based on phenotypic, phylogenetic, and genotypic data, strain 24NR^T is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Neorhizobium, for which the name Neorhizobium lilium sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is 24NR^T (= ACCC 61588^T = JCM 33731^T).

Keywords: Endophytic bacterium; Lilium pumilum; Neorhizobium; Neorhizobium pumilum.