Phaeospirillum chandramohanii sp. nov., a phototrophic alphaproteobacterium with carotenoid glycosides

Abstract

A Gram-negative, spiral-shaped, phototrophic, purple non-sulfur bacterial strain, designated JA145T, was isolated from a freshwater habitat. Cells of strain JA145T were motile by means of a monopolar flagellum. Intracellular photosynthetic membranes were of the stacked type. Bacteriochlorophyll a and the carotenoid lycopene and its glucosides were present as photosynthetic pigments. There was no vitamin requirement for strain JA145T. The predominant cellular fatty acids were C16:1ω7c/C16:1ω6c (22.24%), C16:0 (22.97%) and C18:1ω7c (43.24%). Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain JA145T clustered with species of the genus Phaeospirillum, in the class Alphaproteobacteria. The highest sequence similarities of strain JA145T were found with the type strains of Phaeospirillum fulvum (96.12%) and Phaeospirillum molischianum (96.19%). Based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis and the morphological and physiological characteristics, strain JA145T is considered to represent a novel species, for which the name Phaeospirillum chandramohanii sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is JA145T (=JCM 14933T=KCTC 5703T=NBRC 104961T). © 2009 IUMS.