Sphingosinicella terrae sp. nov. Isolated from a Desert Soil and Reclassification of Sphingomonas deserti as Sphingosinicella deserti comb. nov.

A motile, rod-shaped and yellow-coloured bacterium, designated strain SYSU D60001T, was isolated from a desert soil sample. Cells were Gram-stain-negative, catalase-negative and oxidase-positive. The major cellular fatty acids were summed feature 8 (C18:1 ω7c and/or C18:1 ω6c) and C16:0. The respiratory quinone was ubiquinone-10. The genomic DNA G+C content was 68%. The polar lipids detected were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, an unidentified phospholipid and five unidentified polar lipids. Phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain SYSU D60001T represents a novel species of the genus Sphingosinicella, with closely related strains Sphingosinicella ginsenosidimutans BS1T (95.81%), Sphingomonas deserti GL-C-18T (95.75%) and Sphingosinicella humi QZX222T (95.18%). Data from polyphasic taxonomy study suggest that the isolate represents a novel species in the genus Sphingosinicella, for which the name Sphingosinicella terrae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of the proposed new taxon is SYSU D60001T (= DSM 104938T = KCTC 52780T = NBRC 112955T). We also propose the reclassification of Sphingomonas deserti as Sphingosinicella deserti comb. nov.