A bacterial strain designated MMS21-TAE1-1T, capable of degrading paraoxon, was isolated from red pepper soil (36° 25' 26.0″ N, 126° 25' 47.0″ E) and subjected to polyphasic taxonomic characterisation. MMS21-TAE1-1T was an aerobic, non-motile and Gram-stain-positive bacterium. MMS21-TAE1-1T showed growth at 10-37 °C (optimum, 30 °C), at pH 4-10 (optimum, pH 7) and in the presence of 0-6 % NaCl (optimum, 0 %). On the basis of the results of 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, MMS21-TAE1-1T could be assigned to the genus Paenarthrobacter and shared the highest sequence similarities with Paenarthrobacter aurescens NBRC 12136T (99.72 %), then with Paenarthrobacter nitroguajacolicus G2-1T (99.65 %) and Paenarthrobacter ilicis DSM 20138T (99.17 %). However, the results of genome-based comparison using orthologous average nucleotide identity (orthoANI) and digital DNA-DNA hybridisation indicated that MMS21-TAE1-1T could be readily distinguished from all species of the genus with validly published names. The predominant menaquinone of MMS21-TAE1-1T was MK-9(H2). The diagnostic polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylinositol, and unidentified glycolipids were also present. The major fatty acids were anteiso-C15 : 0, anteiso-C17 : 0, iso-C16 : 0 and iso-C15 : 0. The chemotaxonomic properties of MMS21-TAE1-1T were generally consistent with those of members of the genus Paenarthrobacter. The genome of MMS21-TAE1-1T contained genes related to degradation of aromatic compounds. It is evident from the results of this study that strain MMS21-TAE1-1T merits recognition as representing a novel species of the genus Paenarthrobacter, for which the name Paenarthrobacter aromaticivorans sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is MMS21-TAE1-1T (=KCTC 49652T = LMG 32368T).
Keywords: Paenarthrobacter aromaticivorans; paraoxon degradation; paraoxonase; soil.