Proposal of three novel species of soil bacteria, Variovorax ureilyticus, Variovorax rhizosphaerae, and Variovorax robiniae, in the family Comamonadaceae.

Three novel bacterial strains (UCM-2T, UCM-G28T, and UCM-G35T) were obtained while isolating soil bacteria for the development of antibiotics. Cells of these strains were Gram-negative, non-spore forming, motile by means of a single flagellum, and rod shaped. In all strains, the predominant isoprenoid quinone was ubiquinone-8 (Q-8). Cells contained C16:0, summed feature 3 (C16:1ω7c and/or C16:1ω6c), summed feature 8 (C18:1ω7c and/or C18:1ω6c), and C17:0 cyclo as the major fatty acids, and C10:0 3-OH as the major hydroxy fatty acid. The polar lipid profiles of the three novel strains were dominated by diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, and phosphatidylglycerol. The genomic DNA G + C contents of strains UCM-2T, UCM-G28T, and UCMG35T were 67.5, 65.9, and 66.4 mol%, respectively. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA sequences showed that strain UCM-2T was most closely related to Variovorax soli NBRC 106424T, whereas strains UCM-G28T and UCM-G35T were most similar to Variovorax ginsengisoli Gsoil 3165T. Values indicating DNA-DNA hybridization between the novel isolates and closely related species in the genus Variovorax were lower than the 70% cut-off point. These phenotypic, chemotaxonomic, and phylogenetic data indicate that the three isolates should be classified as new members of the genus Variovorax, for which the names Variovorax ureilyticus sp. nov., Variovorax rhizosphaerae sp. nov., and Variovorax robiniae sp. nov. are proposed. The type strains are UCM-2T (= KACC 18899T = NBRC 112306T), UCMG28T (= KACC 18900T = NBRC 112307T), and UCM-G35T (= KACC 18901T = NBRC 112308T), respectively.