Paracoccus aeridis sp. Nov., an indole-producing bacterium isolated from the rhizosphere of an orchid, aerides maculosa

Abstract

A Gram-stain-negative, non-motile, coccoid-shaped, catalase-and oxidase-positive, non-denitrifying, neutrophilic bacterium designated as strain JC501T was isolated from an epiphytic rhizosphere of an orchid, Aerides maculosa, growing in the Western Ghats of India. Phylogenetic analyses based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence indicated that strain JC501T belonged to the genus Paracoccus and had the highest levels of sequence identity with Paracoccus marinus KKL-A5T (98.9 %), Paracoccus contaminans WPAn02T (97.3%) and other members of the genus Paracoccus ( < 97.3 %). Strain JC501T produced indole-3 acetic acid and other indole derivatives from tryptophan. The dominant respiratory quinone was Q-10 and the major fatty acid was C18: 1ω7c/C18: 1ω6c, with significant quantities of C18: 1ω9c, C17: 0 and C16: 0. The polar lipids of strain JC501T comprised phosphatidylglycerol, phos-phatidylcholine, diphosphatidylglycerol, an unidentified glycolipid, two unidentified aminolipids, two unidentified lipids and four unidentified phospholipids. The genome of strain JC501T was 3.3 Mbp with G+C content of 69.4 mol%. For the resolution of the phylogenetic congruence of the novel strain, the phylogeny was also reconstructed with the sequences of eight housekeeping genes. Based on the results of phylogenetic analyses, low ( < 85.9%) average nucleotide identity, digital DNA–DNA hybridization ( < 29.8%), chemotaxonomic analysis and physiological properties, strain JC501T could not be classified into any of the recog-nized species of the genus Paracoccus. Strain JC501T represents a novel species, for which the name Paracoccus aeridis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is JC501T (=LMG 30532T=NBRC 113644T).