Blastochloris gulmargensis sp. nov., isolated from an epilithic phototrophic biofilm

Abstract

A novel Gram-negative, motile, bacteriochlorophyll b-containing purple non-sulfur bacterium, strain JA248 T, was isolated from phototrophic enrichments of a yellow-green epilithic biofilm sample collected from Gulmarg, India. The genomic DNA G+C content of strain JA248 T was 63.8 mol%. A phylogenetic tree based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that strain JA248 T had highest similarity to members of the genus Blastochloris and was closely related to Blastochloris sulfoviridis DSM 729 T (98.5% sequence similarity) and Blastochloris viridis DSM 133 T (98.4%) of the class Alphaproteobacteria. Strain JA248 T was characterized based on polyphasic taxonomy, and distinct phenotypic and molecular differences based on DNA-DNA hybridization (relatedness of,46.5% with the two species of the genus Blastochloris), multilocus sequence analysis, and phenotypic and chemotaxonomic evidence separated strain JA248 T from other species of the genus Blastochloris. Strain JA248 T therefore represents a novel species in the genus Blastochloris, for which the name Blastochloris gulmargensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is JA248 T (5JCM 14795 T 5DSM 19786 T). © 2011 IUMS.