Abstract

Three Gram-positive-staining strains FJAT-49754T, FJAT- 49682 and FJAT- 49731 were isolated from the citrus rhizosphere soil sample. These strains showed the highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with the type strain of Lederbergia panacisoli (97.8-97.9 %). The 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities between strains FJAT- 49754T, FJAT- 49682, and FJAT- 49731 were 99.9 %. The average nucleotide identity (ANI) values between strains FJAT- 49754T, FJAT- 49682 and FJAT- 49731 were above 96 %, while the ANI values with the members of the genus Lederbergia were below 95 %, which were below the cut- off level for prokaryotic species delineation. The above results suggest that strains FJAT- 49754T, FJAT- 49682 and FJAT- 49731 belong to a novel species of the genus Lederbergia. Growth of strain FJAT- 49754T was observed at 10-40 degrees C (optimum at 30 degrees C, pH 6.0-10.0 (optimum at pH 8.0), and NaCl tolerance up to 7 % (w/v) (optimum at 1 %). MK- 7 was the only menaquinone detected in strain FJAT- 49754T, and the main polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylethanolamine. The major fatty acids of strain FJAT- 49754T were anteiso- C15: 0, iso-C15: 0, and C16:0. The genomic DNA G+C content of strain FJAT- 49754T was 38.7 %. Based on the above results, strain FJAT- 49754T represents a novel species of the genus Lederbergia, for which the name Lederbergia citrea sp. nov., is proposed. The type strain is FJAT- 49754T (=CCTCC AB 2019211T=LMG 31589T).