Sphingomonas xinjiangensis sp. nov., isolated from desert sand.

A Gram-negative, aerobic, motile, Sphingomonas-like rod, strain 10-1-84(T), was isolated from a sand sample collected from the desert of Xinjiang, China. The isolate contained Q-10 as the predominant ubiquinone and C(18 : 1)ω7c, C(16 : 0), C(16 : 1)ω7c and C(14 : 0) 2-OH as the major fatty acids. The polyamine pattern contained predominantly sym-homospermidine. The main polar lipids were sphingoglycolipid, phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidyldimethylethanolamine and an unknown polar lipid. The DNA G+C content was 63.3 mol%. 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity between strain 10-1-84(T) and the type strains of species of the genus Sphingomonas ranged from 91.11 to 96.54 %. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequence indicated that strain 10-1-84(T) belonged to the genus Sphingomonas. On the basis of phylogenetic analysis and physiological and biochemical characterization, strain 10-1-84(T) represents a novel species of the genus Sphingomonas, for which the name Sphingomonas xinjiangensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is 10-1-84(T) ( = CCTCC AB 208035(T)  = NRRL B-51332(T)).