Cohnella abietis sp. nov., isolated from Korean fir (Abies koreana) rhizospheric soil of Halla mountain

Abstract

A strictly aerobic, motile, endospore-forming, rod-shaped bacterium, designated HS21^T, was isolated from rhizospheric soil of the Korean fir tree (Abies koreana) from Halla mountain on Jeju island, Korea. Growth of strain HS21^T was observed at pH 6.0-8.0 (optimum: pH 7.0), 0-2% (w/v) NaCl and 4-30°C (optimum: 25°C). A comparative analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain HS21^T was most closely related to Cohnella luojiensis HY-22R^T (97.6%), followed by C. lupini RLAHU4B^T (97.4%) and C. collisoli NKM-5^T (97.2%). The genome of strain HS21^T comprised a circular chromosome of 7,059,027 bp with 44.8% G + C content. The DNA-DNA relatedness values between strain HS21^T and C. luojiensis HY-22R^T and C. lupini RLAHU4B^T were 18.1% and 13.8%, respectively. The major cellular fatty acids (> 5%) of the isolate were anteiso-C_15:0, iso-C_16:0, C_16:0, and iso-C_15:0. The polar lipids present were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, lysylphosphatidylglycerol, and three unidentified aminophospholipids. Based on its phenotypic, phylogenetic, genomic, and chemotaxonomic properties, strain HS21^T represents a novel species of the genus Cohnella, for which the name Cohnella abietis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is HS21^T (= KCTC 43028^T = CCTCC AB 2019010^T).

Keywords: Cohnella abietis; Korea fir; genome; taxonomy.