Sphingobacterium tenebrionis sp. nov., isolated from intestine of mealworm

A bacterial strain designated PU5-4 T was isolated from the mealworm (the larvae of Tenebrio molitor ) intestines. It was identified to be Gram-stain-negative, strictly aerobic, rod-shaped, non-motile, and non-spore-forming. Strain PU5-4 T was observed to grow at 10–40 °C, at pH 7.0–10.0, and in the presence of 0–3.0 % (w/v) NaCl. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain PU5-4 T should be assigned to the genus Sphingobacterium . The 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity analysis showed that strain PU5-4 T was closely related to the type strains of Sphingobacterium lactis DSM 22361 T (98.49 %), Sphingobacterium endophyticum NYYP31 T (98.11 %), Sphingobacterium soli NCCP 698 T (97.69 %) and Sphingobacterium olei HAL-9 T (95.73 %). The predominant isoprenoid quinone is MK-7. The major fatty acids were identified as iso-C 15 : 0 , iso-C 17 : 0 3-OH and summed feature 3 (C 16 : 1 ω 7 c and/or C 16 : 1 ω 6 c ) and summed feature 9 (iso-C 17 : 0 ω 9 c ). The polar lipids are phosphatidylethanolamine, one unidentified phospholipid, and six unidentified lipids. The genomic DNA G+C content of strain PU5-4 T is 40.24 mol%. The average nucleotide identity of strain PU5-4 T exhibited respective values of 73.88, 73.37, 73.36 and 70.84 % comparing to the type strains of S. lactis DSM 22361 T , S. soli NCCP 698 T , S. endophyticum NYYP31 T and S. olei HAL-9 T , which are below the cut-off level (95–96 %) for species delineation. Based on the above results, strain PU5-4 T represents a novel species of the genus Sphingobacterium , for which the name Sphingobacterium temoinsis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is PU5-4 T (=CGMCC 1.61908 T =JCM 36663 T ).