A novel bacterium, designated strain Msb3T, was recently isolated from leaves of the yam family plant Dioscorea bulbifera (Dioscoreaceae). Phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence indicated that this strain belonged to the genus Paraburkholderia with Paraburkholderia xenovorans as nearest validly named neighbour taxon (99.3 % sequence similarity towards the P. xenovorans type strain). Earlier genome sequence analysis revealed a genome of 8.35 Mb in size with a G+C content of 62.5 mol%, which was distributed over two chromosomes and three plasmids. Here, we confirm that strain Msb3T represents a novel Paraburkholderia species. In silico DNA-DNA hybridization and average nucleotide identity (OrthoANIu) analyses towards P. xenovorans LB400T yielded 58.4 % dDDH and 94.5 % orthoANIu. Phenotypic and metabolic characterization revealed growth at 15 °C on tryptic soy agar, growth in the presence of 1 % NaCl and the lack of assimilation of phenylacetic acid as distinctive features. Together, these data demonstrate that strain Msb3T represents a novel species of the genus Paraburkholderia, for which we propose the name Paraburkholderia dioscoreae sp. nov. The type strain is Msb3T (=LMG 31881T, DSM 111632T, CECT 30342T).
Keywords: Burkholderiaceae; Dioscorea; Paraburkholderia; plant growth promotion; plant microbe interaction; tomato; yam.