Sphingomonas azotifigens sp. nov., a nitrogen-fixing bacterium isolated from the roots of Oryza sativa.

Three yellow-pigmented strains associated with rice plants were characterized by using a polyphasic approach. The nitrogen-fixing abilities of these strains were confirmed by acetylene reduction assay and nifH gene detection. The three strains were found to be very closely related, with 99.9 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity and greater than 70 % DNA-DNA hybridization values, suggesting that the three strains represent a single species. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis indicated that the strains were closely related to Sphingomonas trueperi, with 99.5 % similarity. The chemotaxonomic characteristics (G+C content of the DNA of 68.0 mol%, ubiquinone Q-10 system, 2-OH as the only hydroxy fatty acid and homospermidine as the sole polyamine) were similar to those of members of the genus Sphingomonas. Based on DNA-DNA hybridization values and physiological characteristics, the three novel strains could be differentiated from other recognized species of the genus Sphingomonas. The name Sphingomonas azotifigens sp. nov. is proposed to accommodate these bacterial strains; the type strain is Y39T (=NBRC 15497T = IAM 15283T = CCTCC AB205007T).