Altererythrobacter chaiwopuensis sp. nov., a novel alphaproteobacterial strain isolated from sediment of the Chaiwopu Lake

Two alphaproteobacterial strains, designated EGI L300112 ^T and EGI L300120, were isolated from sediment collected from Chaiwopu Lake in Xinjiang, China. The taxonomic position of the two strains was determined using polyphasic taxonomic analysis and phylogenomic analysis. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities, strain EGI L300112 ^T and EGI L300120 were both closely related to Pelagerythrobacter rhizovicinus AY-3R ^T and shared the highest sequence identities of 96.2% and 96.3%, respectively. However, phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene and genomes clearly demonstrated that the two strains formed a distinct clade with validly published species of the genus Altererythrobacter . Furthermore, the two strains exhibited distinct phenotypic, physiological and genotypic characteristics that differentiate them from other related type species of the genus Altererythrobacter and related species in the family Erythrobacteraceae . Cells of the two strains were aerobic, Gram-stain negative, non-motile and rod-shaped. Optimal growth conditions for EGI L300112 ^T and EGI L300120 occurred on marine agar 2216 at pH 7 at 30 °C. The major respiratory quinone was Q-10. The detected polar lipids of two strains included diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylmethylethanolamine, phosphatidylcholine and unidentified phospholipids. The major fatty acids (>10%) were identified as summed feature 3 (C _16 : 1 ω 7  c /C _16 : 1 ω 6 c) and summed feature 8 (C _18 : 1 ω 7 c). The G+C content of strain EGI L300112 ^T and EGI L300120 was 61.2% and 61.4%, respectively. Based on differential phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of the two strains and related species in the genus Altererythrobacter , the two strains should be classified as representing a new species of this genus, for which the name Altererythrobacter chaiwopuensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is EGI L300112 ^T (=MCCC 1K09432 ^T =KCTC 8712 ^T ).